Source: University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Date: November 22, 2010
Summary:
PHILADELPHIA - Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School and School of Dental Medicine have found that the mutation that causes a rare genetic disorder of bone formation (fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva, or FOP) can reset an internal program to change cell fate, driving it back into an adult stem-cell stage. Immediate application for these findings is the field of tissue engineering and personalized medicine. It is conceivable that a transplant patient may one day have some of their own endothelial cells extracted, reprogrammed, and then grown into the desired tissue type for implantation. Host rejection would not be an issue.
