Researchers hope to turn stem cells into specific cells, such as heart or liver or nerve cells.
The experiments show that stem cells can turn into the right kinds of nerve cells after implantation, Okarma says.
Dr Yamanaka's team has, for instance, been able to persuade its stem cells to turn into nerve cells and heart cells.
But for a long time, many questioned whether embryonic stem cells could turn into sperm a highly specialized cell that's only formed after puberty.
Once they start dividing, stem cells are likely to turn into nerve, muscle, or other tissues--and they stop being stem cells.
The transplanted bone marrow contains stem cells that can turn into skin cells.
The long-term hope is to treat patients with some sort of stem cell that could turn into beating heart muscle and replace dead cardiac tissue with fully functioning new cells.
By 2003 researchers he had funded were able to turn embryonic stem cells into dopamine-producing neurons, but once they were put into mice, the neurons either reverted to embryonic stem cells or stopped producing dopamine.
In addition to the extremely expensive process of cloning, for each patient you have to culture stem cells and reliably turn them into the tissue you want with 100% efficiency, so you don't get a single left over stem cell that will cause tumors.
CNN: Human stem cell cloning: 'Holy Grail' or techno-fantasy?
But it could reduce the large number of homicides that stem from impulsive acts that turn into tragedies.
WSJ: William Daley and Roseanna Ander: Don't Take Your Guns to Town
Alternatively, chemicals they secrete may stimulate changes in cells already present in the heart a suggestion encouraged by the work of Paul Riley at University College, London, who has (in mice) stimulated stem cells which were already present to turn into cardiac muscle by adding a protein called thymosin beta 4 that throws a crucial genetic switch in stem cells, and thus activates them.
ECONOMIST: Stem cells and medicine: Repairing broken hearts | The
Dalton is a leader in uncovering exactly what it is about embryonic stem cells that allows them to turn into any kind of tissue in the body.
The only problem is no one knew where to get the donated eggs, how to turn the resulting embryonic stem cells into neurons that could be implanted, or whether the treatment would actually work after all that effort.
They're going to try, for example, to turn to a debate on stem cells on Monday and Tuesday.
Because tumors are caused by stem cells run amok, drugs to turn down their activity might be potent cancer medicines.
Researchers highly value embryonic stem cells because of their potential to turn into any organ or tissue cell in the body.
It is hoped that work of this kind will eventually enable scientists to turn mature cells back into stem cells which have the ability to become any type tissue in the body.
The amendment would presumably turn not just abortion and embryonic stem-cell research into the equivalent of murder, but do the same for some kinds of birth control.
There are people starting to wade in there, and that -- it might not, you know, help turn the market, but at least could stem some of the declines in housing prices.
First came the remarkable work of Shinya Yamanaka at Kyoto University, who showed it was possible, by activating just four genes, to take a mature cell (he used a bit of skin but other cells would work) and turn it into the equivalent of an embryonic stem cell with the potential to become any other cell in the body of mouse or human.
应用推荐