Lung stem cells (LSCs) play protective roles in epithelial repair and tissue homeostasis.However, direct isolation of these cells is challenging and little is known about their homing capacity in vivo.Here, we show that LSCs can be prospectively isolated for expansion in culture using a new glycoprotein marker, together with CD45 and CD54, and subsequently tracked in vivo with novel fluorescent nanodiamonds (FNDs) as a long-term biolabel.