A 'huge leap forward' for stem cell research

[manouli]

A 'huge leap forward' for stem cell research



Scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine may have taken the controversy out of the entire field of stem cell research.
In a paper published online today in the journal Nature, they report that they were able to transform mouse skin cells directly into functioning nerve cells without needing to go through a stem cell stage first.

read....

http://blogs.usatoday.com/sciencefai...-research.html

[manouli]

YES SIR!!!!


Skin cells transformed directly to nerve in study



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Researchers have transformed ordinary mouse skin cells directly into neurons, bypassing the need for stem cells or even stemlike cells and greatly speeding up the field of regenerative medicine.

Science | Health

The experiment could make it possible to someday take a sample of a patient's skin and turn the cells into a tailor-made transplant to treat brain diseases such as Parkinson's or Alzheimer's, or heal damaged spinal cords.

"This study is a huge leap forward," said Dr. Irving Weissman, director of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at Stanford University in California, where the work was done and where it has been patented.

Although they worked with mice, past stem cell accomplishments have been replicated in humans within months.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60Q51D20100127

[lunasicc42]

isn't this like a part of the "holy grail" of what we want?... To calm the ethical stuff?

[0xSquidy]

Any volunteer can contrast (explain) this discovery so dumb asses like me can know if this is really that good news?

[DA]

Originally Posted by 0xSquidy

Any volunteer can contrast (explain) this discovery so dumb asses like me can know if this is really that good news?

its an interesting breakthrough. as if going from skin to stem cells to nerves is that much less then going from skin to nerves. either way, we wont see them at the bedside for several decades.

[carbar]

This looks like the foundation for something very interesting!

[kivi66]

Comment on the same site:
"This “Huge” Leap Forward is EXACTLY what Dr. Shinya Yamanaka did in 2006. This So Called “Huge” process if a clinical Phase 1 at the FDA started tomorrow is at LEAST a decade away from commercial applications. For the Doctor say it is “patented” is a mis-statement or a mis-quote. It has NOT. check the U.S. patent office as I did. Lastly the “PUMP” on this is NOT founded. The researchers saying “great leap forward” is NONsense. With out the FDA and NIH and other industry experts say so.

Right now millions of dieing/sick people need stem cells and the proven research that has gone on for 15yrs. For these researchers to act like they Found the Holy grail with OUT clinical trials is foolhardy and absolutly unprofessional.
Only TWO Companys have been authorized to conduct HUMAN Stem Cell commercialization Process Clinicals. Geron Corp in 1/23/09 which is under a clinical Hold until q-3 2010 and Advanced Cell Technology which submitted its IND for Stargardts Disease (SMD) for its RPE program. ACT’s no harm to embryo Stem Cell process should be the one to be spoken about on this and every other subject when it comes to “ETHICAL” stem Cell harvesting."

[keeping on]

Kivi66, thank your insightful position on this; if I read you right; stem cell therapy is the way to go. I happen to belive that remyelination ; through whatever method is successful is key to some conditions. We should know something this year thru Dr. young's trials. Please keep us informed of anything you see now or in the futre.
Thanks
T.J.

[Wise Young]

I merged two threads that are on the same topic. Let me comment.

Kivi66, this is not what Shinya Yamanaka did in 2006. What Yamanaka did was to insert four genes into immature mouse fibroblasts and produced induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells that behaved like embryonic stem cells (ESC). That is what some scientists would call dedifferentiation but others would call reprogramming.

What Vierbuchen, et al. (Source) at Stanford did was to convert mouse skin cells directly to neurons with only three genes (Ascl1, Brn2 also called Pou3f2, and Myt1l), which turn out to be different from the four genes that were used to induce pluripotent stem cells (Oct4, Sox2, Klf7, C-Myc).

Also amazing to me is the positive comment by Irv Weissman (who was at Stanford when I was there as a medical student and is now the head of the Stanford Stem Cell Institute). More than anybody, Irv Weissman has opposed the concepts of dedifferentiation and trandifferentiation. About a year and half ago, I had asked him publicly in a meeting what he thought about induced pluripotent stem cells. He replied that he was not yet convinced that IPS cells were not just a dish of cancer cells. To see him embrace this finding is stunning. This is transdifferentiation.

This is a transformative discovery.

Wise.

[swh2007]

I personally thank the scientific community for continuing its efforts to collaborate, resolve differences, pursue different avenues, and make progress in finding a cure for not only sci but the dozens of other diseases and health conditions that look to stem cell therapies, etc., for a cure and a better treatments. So, thank you all.