Versatile building block of life (4,4)
I believe the answer is:
stem cell
<span class="explanation-format__ClueExplanation">'<span class="explanation-format__original">versatile building block of life</span>' is the definition.<br/ ><span class="explanation-format__explanation">(I've seen this before)</span><br/ ><br/ >This is all the clue.<br/ ></span>
(Other definitions for stem cell that I've seen before include "Generalised producer in living organism" , "Undifferentiated functional unit in an organism" , "biological germ" , "Undifferentiated unit of life" , "body-builder" .)