December 19, 2008
Breakthrough of the Year: Reprogramming Cells
By Gretchen Vogel
By inserting genes that turn back a cell’s developmental clock, researchers are gaining insights into disease and the biology of how a cell decides its fate. This year, scientists achieved a long-sought feat of cellular alchemy. They took skin cells from patients suffering from a variety of diseases and reprogrammed them into stem cells. The transformed cells grow and divide in the laboratory, giving researchers new tools to study the cellular processes that underlie the patients’ diseases. The achievement could also be an important step on a long path to treating diseases with a patient’s own cells…Read Entire Article