Yamanaka's ability to convert adult mouse cells into embryoniclike stem cells—called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells)—has pumped fresh excitement into regenerative medicine. In this process, scientists use viruses to deliver three to four genes into an adult cell and to reprogram it back to its unspecialized state, enabling it to grow into any type of cell in the body. In a span of months, Yamanaka's team and three others reported success using human cells from adult skin and joint tissue and newborn foreskin.
Now the 64-year-old Wilmut is one of several high-profile scientists who remain loyal to SCNT [somatic cell nuclear transfer] in concept but are leading a wholesale charge out of the field and into an alternative technology. That other approach, first demonstrated in 2006 by Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University, restores adult cells back to an embryoniclike state called pluripotency, in which they regain the ability to develop into any kind of cell.
Fascinating, and promising.
You're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead. |