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Medical Milestone: Scientists Reset Human Stem Cells

Posted by Soulskill on from the just-power-cycle-them dept.

SternisheFan sends news that researchers from the University of Cambridge have made a breakthrough in the production of human pluripotent stem cells. The goal when developing this kind of stem cell is to have them as early in the cell's lifecycle as possible, so that they're more like true embryonic stem cells and can fulfill whatever role is needed. But all of them made so far are advanced slightly down their developmental pathway. The new work, published in the journal Cell (abstract), has found a way to "reset" the cells by introducing two genes that induce a developmental "ground state."

6 of 75 comments (clear)

  1. hoooray by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    The 1%ers will be biologically immortal! Nothing will stop them from hoarding the entire money supply for themselves! NOTHING!

    1. Re:hoooray by NotInHere · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What affects the 1%ers today will affect the 99%ers tomorrow. This was true for Electric Light and phones in cars, and will be true for imortality.

    2. Re: hoooray by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The amazing thing about nature, it will always find a way to kill you! Sooner or later she's going to get you. Appreciate the beauty :-)

      I don't "appreciate the beauty" of cancer, alzheimers, stroke, dementia or any of the other similarly horrendous ways that nature kills people. It seems to me that many people develop a form of bizarre Stockolm Syndrome when they confront the horrors of disease. I suppose the horrors are too harsh to face. This bizarre form of celebrating suffering and death seems particulaly concentrated on the diseases of aging, likely due to the fact that modern medicine has managed to dramatically reduce the threat from diseases not associated with aging (e.g. infectious diseases.) With the greatly reduced threat from these non-age-related diseases, the psychological defensiveness that leads to the perverse celebration of suffering doesn't have the same impetus to emerge as it does with the still ongoing threats (ie disease and death caused by aging)

      As someone who has managed to avoid this defensive Stockolm syndrome mentality, I see that the real beauty is in humanity developing technology that eliminates the blind cruel amoral causes of suffering that nature has plagued humanity with for millenia. I welcome the beautiful technology of regenerative medicine, the end of disease and the suffering of aging, and hopefully this latest breakthrough speeds its realization and deployment.

  2. Milestone? by NotInHere · · Score: 4, Insightful

    For calling a scientific advancement a milestone you need to be either really sure, or have a bloating press. Einstein's theory wasn't regarded as "milestone" until the solar eclipse 1919. Are they already really sure yet?

  3. Re:Well this should piss off everybody by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    Righties hate killing embryos for stem cell research. This doesn't kill embryos. Of course lefties will hate it for the genetic tampering and doubly hate it for not killing enough embryos.

  4. Thank God by JimSadler · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If this technology can become common place the suffering of the multitudes could be greatly reduced. I don't have a clue as to how many chronic diseases might be eliminated but I suspect that many diseases could be eliminated in the afflicted. For example can we roll back the clock for a person afflicted with Parkinson's disease to a time before the disease expressed itself in the patient? Think what that could mean for people like Michael J. Fox and many millions of folks.