Researchers have reprogrammed adult mouse cells to behave like embryonic stem cells, without the need for a stay in a Petri dish.
The technique, published in Nature, allows researchers to reprogram cells in living mice without removing those cells from their natural environment. Initial tests suggest that these cells are able to take on a wider variety of identities than those generated by earlier methods.
The finding has the potential to accelerate efforts to develop regenerative therapies by avoiding the need to grow cells outside the body and then grafting them back in place, says George Daley, a stem-cell researcher at Boston Children’s Hospital in Massachusetts, who was not involved with the study.
Read the full, original story here: Stem cells created in living mice
Additional Resources:
- “Cells inside a body reprogrammed to become stem cells,” New Scientist
- “Stem cell milestone achieved,” Los Angeles Times
- “More-Primitive Stem Cells Produced,” Scientist