The video clip opens with Wilmut referring to Shinya Yamanaka, the Japanese scientist whose team was the first to make human IPS cells. These cells act much like embryonic stem cells, but can be created from adult skin cells. They thus avoid the ethical issue many have with developing therapies made from human embryos.
In addition, IPS cells hold the potential for personalized therapy. A patient with a damaged spinal cord, for example, could receive a transplant of new spinal cord tissue, grown from his own cells. Likewise, a patient with Parkinson's disease could receive new dopamine-producing brain cells. (In the case of inherited disease, researchers are investigating whether these cells could be corrected with gene therapy before being transplanted back into patients).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment