Source: Washington Post
Date: June 7, 2007
Summary:
The Washington Post reports scientists have successfully turned mouse skin cells into cells that, like embryonic stem cells, can become any tissue in the body. If the procedure can be repeated in humans, it could end the bioethical controversy that has surrounded the field of embryonic stem cell research:
"Three teams of scientists said yesterday they had coaxed ordinary mouse skin cells to become what are effectively embryonic stem cells without creating or destroying embryos in the process -- an advance that, if it works with human cells, could revolutionize stem cell research and quench one of the hottest bioethical controversies of the decade. In work being published today, the scientists describe a method for turning back the biological clocks of skin cells growing in laboratory dishes. Thus rejuvenated, the cells give rise to daughter cells that are able to become all the parts needed to make a new mouse."
