A Simple Method for Inducing Pluripotent Stem Cells
In what may be the story of the year, if not of the century, researchers at Japan’s RIKEN developmental biology labs and Brigham and Women’s Hospital have found that mature somatic cells, when exposed to different kinds of chemical stress (in this case, an acidic environment) revert from epigenetic cell repair to an embryonic stem cell-like state. They call this kind of genetic reprogramming “stimulus triggered acquisition pluripotency.” As this piece notes, in due course, “. . . through a skin biopsy or blood sample, without the need for genetic manipulation,, researchers may be able to create embryonic stem cells specific to each individual, which in turn could be used to create tissue without the need to insert any outside genetic material into that cell, creating endless possibilities for therapeutic options.” MORE
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