iPS cells: potent stuff

Nature Methods ^ | 21 December 2009 | Monya Baker

[neverdem]

Monya Baker is Technology Editor at Nature and Nature Methods

Correspondence to: Monya Baker1 e-mail: m.baker@us.nature.com

Abstract

Now that the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells is becoming routine, researchers can get on to the more exciting prospect of using the cells to make discoveries in disease and basic biology. Monya Baker reports.

Introduction

As Shinya Yamanaka finished the experiments that would win him the 2009 Lasker prize, a stem-cell fraud was prominent in his thoughts. In 2005, Woo Suk Hwang had rocketed to star status for reportedly developing a technique to generate human embryonic stem (ES) cells genetically matched to living patients. This achievement promised to do for human tissue what PCR does for DNA: produce sufficient quantities to make once unthinkable procedures commonplace. But by the end of the year, Hwang's work had been discredited, and stem-cell scientists were on the defensive.

The technique developed by Yamanaka's lab at Kyoto University to make mature cells behave like embryonic stem cells promised to be even more revolutionary: it was operationally easier and could be accomplished without eggs or embryos. But Yamanaka was so nervous about publishing soon after the Hwang scandal that he waited until another student repeated the feat in a second system before submitting his paper.

He was right to be wary. In 2006, he began describing his work at scientific meetings. Careful not to reveal the exact recipe, Yamanaka explained that he'd found a quartet of genes that reprogrammed mouse fibroblasts (a type of skin cell). First, the genes were inserted into cultured cells using viruses. Weeks later, the fibroblasts took on the morphology and molecular characteristics of embryonic stem cells. When mixed with normal mouse embryos and implanted into surrogate mothers, these induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells contributed extensively to tissue in developing mouse fetuses...

[neverdem]

You might have to register, not subscribe, to access the full text. Happy New Year!

[grey_whiskers]

Heard about this at a recent conference for my job.

Thanks for posting!

...oh, and Happy New Year!