In a groundbreaking achievement, Israeli researchers have transformed rodent skin cells into the three major stem-cell types that comprise early-stage embryos.
Their main goal is to provide a “test tube embryo” as a new way to model and study embryonic defects and placental dysfunctions using lab mice.
In the future, this breakthrough possibly could provide a path toward creating whole human embryos from human skin cells, without the need for sperm or eggs.
Reporting in the journal Cell Stem Cell, Hebrew University of Jerusalem developmental biology and cancer researcher Yossi Buganim and his team explain that they discovered a set of five genes capable of transforming rodent skin cells into all three of the cell types that comprise the early embryo: the embryo, the placenta and the extraembryonic tissues, such as the umbilical cord. These transformations take about one month.
Back in 2006, Japanese researchers discovered that skin cells could be “reprogrammed” into early embryonic cells (“induced plutipotent stem cells”) essentially identical to their natural counterparts. These cells can develop into all fetal cell types, but not into extra-embryonic tissues.
The Hebrew University team used new technology to scrutinize the molecular forces that govern cell fate decisions for skin-cell reprogramming and the natural process of embryonic development. -- More...
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In a groundbreaking achievement, Israeli researchers have transformed rodent skin cells into the three major stem-cell types that comprise early-stage embryos.
Their main goal is to provide a “test tube embryo” as a new way to model and study embryonic defects and placental dysfunctions using lab mice.
