BREAKTHROUGH TRANSFORMATION OF SKIN CELLS INTO STEM CELLS

"As news of the success by two research teams spread by e-mail, scientists seemed almost giddy at the likelihood that their field, which for its entire life has been at the center of so much debate, may suddenly become like other areas of biomedical science: appreciated, eligible for federal funding and wide open for new waves of discovery."

Wow. I have said this many times before; no matter how much egghead Presidents and religious bigots suppress scientific research, science moves on. It may trudge or even falter sometime, but it will progress. Of that one thing we can be sure.

Now, researchers have come up with a method to use 4 genes to induce skin cells to transform into stem cells through a retroviral vector. I am yet to read the two reports in Science and Cell in detail (here and here) but the news for now sounds like a real breakthroughs; even the White House dispensed their insipid bleatings about it. George Bush will probably say, "See, that's why I vetoed two stem-cell research bills, to foster such creative research. And they call me the "anti-science President"...what are they, stupid?" But to hell with him for now. I always knew there could be a way around this, and now here it seems to be. Made the front page of the New York Times. More details later.

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