The New York Times is reporting, just in time for the Holiday Season, that James A. Thomson, and Shinya Yamanaka, leaders of the first two groups to successfully isolate stem cell lines from a human embryo, have both managed, independently, to figure out a way to turn ordinary human skin cells into cells that appear to act the same as embryonic stem cells. This new feat is accomplished without ever using a human embryo! For those of you who have been living under a rock for the last ten years, stem cell research has been one of the most controversial issues in all of political discourse. People on both sides of the issue should be extremely happy at this development, and science and medical research as a whole are sure to benefit. While the new process does involve a certain level of genetic manipulation(four genes are added to the skin cell used to create the stem cell), it will surely prove to be less controversial than it has for the past ten years, despite its relatively minor lingering ethical issues(there are obviously still people who believe genetic manipulation of any kind is wrong). It should be noted that this research is still preliminarily, and both groups of scientists say that they still must confirm that these reprogrammed cells really are the same as embryonic stem cells, but they appear to act the same in all tests conducted thus far.

This research, despite this fact, is very promising and gives me a whole new thing to be thankful for this Thanksgiving Day.

Popularity: 5% [?]