Researcher Advocates Stem Cell Bank
Posted on: Friday, 11 January 2008, 11:24 CST
A Japanese researcher is advocating the creation of a stem cell bank to reduce the time and costs associated with using regenerative medicine to treat patients.Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University, along with his team, discovered last year a way transform human skin cells into cells that act like embryonic stem cells, without the use of cloning or human embryos. Their findings, presented last November, helped advance the field of stem cell research amid ethical debates about the use of human embryos and cloning technologies .
Treatments utilizing these new cell types, called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, are still years way according to researchers. Yamanaka said it might take 10 years or longer before iPS cells can be used for human treatments.
However there is hope among scientists working in regenerative medicine that iPS cells will improve research, and ultimately provide treatments for people with injuries and diseases such as Parkinson’s and diabetes.
“It may be a good idea to make an iPS cell bank,” Yamanka said during a news conference. “By making such a bank, we can cut down the cost of treatment and also we can shorten the period which is required for the generation of iPS cells,” he added.
Yamanka said it takes about three months to transform a patient’s skin cells into iPS cells, too much time considering that these cells may be needed within 10 days to treat a spinal cord injury.
“In reality, tailor-made medicine using iPS cells is not so ideal,” Yamanaka said.
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Source: redOrbit Staff
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