Startling Breakthrough in Reprogramming Adult Stem Cells is being called a "win-win situation for medicine and ethics"
"…patients suffering from not only diabetes but also heart disease, strokes and many other ailments could eventually have some of their cells reprogrammed to cure their afflictions without the need for drugs, transplants or other therapies." –Washington Post
According to a Washington Post report, biologists at Harvard have found a way to "reprogram" adult stem cells, after strategic placement, to change into the cell that is needed for the medical situation.
For example, the scientists "pinpointed three crucial molecular switches that, when flipped, completely convert a common cell in the pancreas into the more precious insulin-producing ones that diabetics need to survive," writes Washington Post reporter Rob Stein.
Douglas A. Melton, co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, who led the research, explained, "It's kind of an extreme makeover of a cell. The goal is to create cells that are missing or defective in people. It's very exciting."
The experiments were performed on mice, but researchers were said to be "optimistic" that the method could be used to treat conditions in humans.
Another plus is that adult stem cells present no ethical problems since there are no human embryos destroyed in the process of using them.
Read more on this exciting discovery at the source link provided.
