To augment heart repair after ischemic injury, researchers have turned to stem cell-based therapies, which replace dead heart tissue with new, functional tissue. In most cases, however, fewer than 1 percent of stem cells survive transplantation into the heart. In new research, scientists at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine show that, in mice, this obstacle can be overcome through the reintroduction of LIN28 – a protein normally expressed in the developing heart – into stem cells derived from adult heart tissue.