Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPS)

An incredible new study has for the first time found a way to transform skin cells into all three of the stem cell types that make up an early-stage embryo. This extraordinary discovery points a way toward creating an embryo without the need for an egg or sperm.

We have known for well over a century that exposure to certain environmental agents can result in DNA mutations that ultimately cause cancer. Now a team of UK scientists has developed a way to identify specific mutational signatures in tumors that can be linked to certain carcinogens.​

This installment of our Revolutions series brings you up to date with the ground-breaking new discoveries made around the regenerative possibilities of induced pluripotent stem cells, which can theoretically be coaxed into any kind of cell in the human body.

A possible diabetes cure could be found by replenishing a patient’s own supply of beta cells, which naturally produce insulin. Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis are a step closer to that kind of treatment, after tweaking the recipe for turning stem cells into beta cells.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have designed a silicone device, covered in 3D-printed neuronal stem cells, that can be implanted into a spinal injury. There it grows new connections between remaining nerves to let patients regain some motor control.

Researchers in Japan are making exciting progress on a way to potentially arrest the deterioration of motor skills in Parkinson's patients. They are now preparing to begin transplanting reprogrammed stem cells into human brains as part of a first-of-a-kind clinical trial.​​

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) hold all kinds of potential in the world of regenerative medicine. One of the many possibilities could be repairing damaged hearts, something that will soon be put to the test for the first time ever in newly approved clinical trials in Japan.

One of the clearest Alzheimer's risk factors is the gene apoE4. New research has peered closer at the protein encoded by this gene and uncovered how it affects the brain, how it increases the risks of Alzheimer’s and most importantly, how the damage can be reversed.

Stem cells are the blank slate on which all the specialized cells in our bodies are built, and finding ways to revert adult cells back to that stage can help fight a whole range of illnesses. Now scientists at the Scripps Research Institute have found human antibodies that can perform the function.

Stem cells have been shown to do everything from regrowing skull bones to healing damaged lung tissue. They've even restored vision in rabbits. But when three adult women tried an unproven stem-cell treatment in Florida to combat vision loss from macular degeneration, they all went blind.

In a promising development that strengthens the case for personalized cancer care, scientists have demonstrated the possibility of predicting the potential for an individual to have adverse side effects to different drugs by first testing them on stem cells made from the patient's own blood.​

Japanese scientists' breakthrough procedure produces healthy mouse eggs from skin cells in a petri dish. What if you could do the same with human cells?