Success in islet-transplantation-based therapies for type I diabetes, coupled with a worldwide shortage of transplant-ready islets, has motivated efforts to develop renewable sources of islet-replacement tissue. Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) have been successfully induced into insulin producing islet-like structure in several studies. However, the source of the ESCs has presented ethical and technical concerns. Here, we isolated a population of stem cells from human cord blood (UCB), which expressed embryo stage specific maker, SSEA-4, and the multi-potential stem cell marker, Oct4. Subsequently, we successfully induced them into insulin-producing islet-like structures, which co-express insulin and C-peptide. These findings might have a significant potential to advance human UCB derived stem-cell-based therapeutics for diabetes. (c) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.