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Late last month, Haruko Obokata and her colleagues at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe, Japan reported that they had discovered a surprising new technique for making stem cells. In a pair of articles published in the journal Nature, they claimed that ordinary mouse cells could be made pluripotent (that is, having the ability to develop into any of the body’s tissue types) by exposing them to various forms of stress, such as acidic conditions.
The most obvious practical application of this new technique is that it could serve as a new source of pluripotent stem cells for regenerative medicine or for research. Initial results suggest that the technique is not only simpler than the genetic engineering techniques developed in 2006 to create induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, but also much more efficient at transforming cells to a pluripotent state.
There is still more work to be done before we know whether this procedure will work on the cells of adult humans. There are many differences between the stem cells of mice and humans, and the researchers...
The most obvious practical application of this new technique is that it could serve as a new source of pluripotent stem cells for regenerative medicine or for research. Initial results suggest that the technique is not only simpler than the genetic engineering techniques developed in 2006 to create induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, but also much more efficient at transforming cells to a pluripotent state.
There is still more work to be done before we know whether this procedure will work on the cells of adult humans. There are many differences between the stem cells of mice and humans, and the researchers...