Source: University of New South Wales
Date: August 23, 2010
Summary:
In a world first, Australian researchers have created induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells from human skin without the use of viruses or genetic manipulation, an important step toward their eventual use in treating human disease. The University of New South Wales breakthrough means work can now progress on the use of iPS cells to generate brain cells for the study and eventual treatment of degenerative brain diseases.
“By successfully creating iPS cells without resorting to viruses or genetic manipulation we have removed a major hurdle to their therapeutic use,” said UNSW’s Stem Cell Lab Director, Associate Professor Kuldip Sidhu. The lab is now working closely with Scientia Professor Perminder Sachdev from UNSW’s School of Psychiatry to produce Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s and Parkinson’s stem cell lines. A paper outlining the breakthrough appears this month in the prestigious journal PLoS One.
