What is an induced pluripotent stem cell?
Discovered by Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD at Japan’s Kyoto University in 2007, these new stem cells give rise to a totally new category of pluripotent stem cell. “Yamanaka screened 24 candidate proteins before finding four that were able to reprogram adult cells, reverting them to their embryonic state. He and others then showed that these factors are also effective in human cells. Developmental biologist James Thomson, of the University of Wisconsin was the first to identify a slightly different group of factors that do the same.” – Ian Wilmut, Time, April ’08 More References About Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Original Publication from Cell: Induction of Pluripotent Stem Cells from Adult Human Fibroblasts by Defined Factors (pdf) Kazutoshi Takahashi, Koji Tanabe, Mari Ohnuki, Megumi Narita, Tomoko Ichisaka, Kiichiro Tomoda, and Shinya Yamanaka DOI 10.1016/j.cell.2007.11.019 Excerpt: “SUMMARY: Successful reprogramming of differentiated human somatic cells into a pluripotent state would
