Stem cell therapies for diseases such as Parkinson’s and diabetes could eventually be developed without destroying human embryos, following landmark experiments that have turned back the clock on adult tissue to make powerful master cells.
Adult skin cells have been genetically reprogrammed into stem cells like those from human embryos, with the potential to form any kind of human tissue, by two independent research teams from Japan the United States.The twin achievements pave the way for a new approach to stem cell therapy that skirts some of the ethical and practical problems that have limited its progress to date.