Bio Responds To Latest Advancement In Stem Cell Research
Main Category: Stem Cell ResearchArticle Date: 22 Nov 2007 - 14:00 PST
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The following statement was issued by Biotechnology Industry Organization President and CEO Jim Greenwood regarding recently published papers by researchers in Japan and at the University of Wisconsin reporting reprogramming adult human skin cells to produce cells similar to human embryonic stem cells:
"These reports are an exciting development in the ongoing quest to explore the opportunities presented by stem cells for the development of therapies for diabetes, heart disease, spinal cord injuries and a host of other disabling and deadly conditions.
"As the researchers themselves note, however, this new advance is not yet a substitute for other areas of stem cell research, including research based on the use of human embryonic stem cells. We must do all we can to accelerate research and explore all avenues of therapeutic possibilities to their fullest to determine which areas can present treatment options fastest. BIO will continue to work with all parties to urge support and advocate for increased funding for all promising areas of therapeutic research.
About BIO
BIO represents more than 1,100 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and 31 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products. BIO also produces the annual BIO International Convention, the global event for biotechnology.
http://www.bio.org
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15 Feb. 2012. <http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/89652.php>
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Second Generation Embryonic Stem Cell Technology
posted by Gregory D. Pawelski on 24 Nov 2007 at 1:43 pmStem cells will be able to be created using a "second generation" embryonic stem cell technology. Take an adult skin cell, introduce a small number of genes which direct the "committed" adult skin cell to revert all the way back to an embryonic stem cell.
The technology was first developed/reported in Japan. It's was independently confirmed at Harvard because they've got a lot of private money to do the work. Initial work had been done with mouse embryonic stem cells and mouse skin cells "turned back" to embryonic stem cells.
It is hardly a remarkable event. All cells from a single individual have the same DNA. It's only a matter of controlling which part of the total DNA is active. There is no reason a cell can't be reprogrammed to return to precisely the state it was in which it was a primitive embryonic stem cell or the original stem cell - the fertilized egg itself.
No matter how anyone wants to interpret it, this "second generation" technology embryonic stem cell would have the same genetic material and the same capabilities as the "first generation" technology embryonic stem cell. The cells are created by going backwards, introducing a handful of gene to reprogram the DNA of an adult cell, so that the cell reverts back to the state of a newly fertilized egg.
It would be the same cell as it was at the time it was a newly fertilized egg. It would genetically be an identical twin, a clone of the originial fertilized egg. In every sense of the word, it has the same potential for developing into a baby.
In terms of them being 100% identical, save for the 4 extraneous genes introduced to turn the non-pluripotent skin (somatic) cell back into a true embryonic stem cell, these genes would either silence themselves spontaneously or could be silenced using already available technology like RNA interference.
This is Second Generation Embryonic Stem Cell Technology.
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