Scientists based at the University of Edinburgh’s MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine (CRM) and Anne Rowling Clinic have taken a vital step forward in understanding how cells from skin tissue can be reprogrammed to become stem cells. The study of how these cells – known as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) – were reprogrammed has been published in the journal Nature. They found that the process by which iPSCs are created is not simply a reversal of how skin cells are generated in normal human development. Researchers made the discovery by tracking the change of skin cells during the reprogramming process.
For more information, see the July 2013 issue of the Anne Rowling Clinic Newsletter.