According to a report human stem cell lines currently used for research often come from white donors meaning that non-whites will not benefit much from any medical breakthroughs from research.

Researchers said that stem cells from other populations should be included to increase the range of embryonic stem cell lines.

Study co-author Noah Rosenberg, an associate professor in the department of human genetics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor said, "We have examined the population descent of a large collection of human embryonic stem cell lines that are commonly used in research."

According to Sean Morrison, PhD, from the University of Michigan, and colleagues stated that although the specific origins of hESC lines were not available, genotype data on 47 commonly used lines suggested that only two came from Asians and none had African origins.

Dr Camillo Ricordi, scientific director of the Diabetes Research Institute and Cell Transplant Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, called the lack of diversity in stem cell lines said that this was something that should be corrected as new cell lines were being produced.

Ricordi believes that, "You cannot leave out anyone of African descent or others if you are developing therapies for everyone," he said.

One way to increase the diversity of stem cell lines was to use induced (nonembryonic) pluripotent stem cells derived from ethnically varied individuals, the researchers added.