Source: Agence France Presse (AFP)
Posted: November 30, 2007, 13:57 EST
Summary:
A Japanese team that last week broke new ground in stem cell research announced a further advance on Friday, saying they had made good progress towards clearing a key safety hurdle in their work. In further research, published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, Yamanaka's team report that they can now produce these so-called induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, without having to resort to a cancer gene found to cause tumours in many of the lab mice in the earlier experiment. If confirmed, it will remove a significant safety hazard in using these cells in transplants one day.
