Technique Moves Stem Cell Research Ahead

Scientists say an advance by a Japanese researcher moves them closer to developing a way to turn human skin cells into major body tissues.

Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University has developed a method for reprogramming a skin cell of a mouse back to the embryonic state, The New York Times said Wednesday

The newspaper said the embryonic cells can be induced in the laboratory to develop into many of the body’s major tissues.

Scientists say the technique, if adapted to human cells, could be used to create new heart, liver or kidney cells that would not be rejected by the patient’s immune system.

Yamanaka’s technique depends on inserting four genes into a skin cell, which is much easier than the previously used method of nuclear transfer.

From the point of view of moving biomedicine and regenerative medicine faster, this is about as big a deal as you could imagine, Stanford University stem cell biologist Irving Weissman told The Times.