Chinese scientists find new method of reprogramming cells
Chinese scientists have created induced pluripotent (iPS) cells by adding chemicals but not extra genes that might cause mutations or cancer.
Chinese scientists have created induced pluripotent (iPS) cells by adding chemicals but not extra genes that might cause mutations or cancer. Hongkui Deng, a biologist at Peking University in Beijing, and his team screened thousands of small molecules to find chemical substitutes for the Oct4 gene which has been a key element in reprogramming cells.
They call the chemically induced pluripotent cells CiPSCs.
Using seven chemicals they were able to get 0.2% of cells to convert to iPS cells, a proportion similar to the rates in other techniques. The researchers have proved that the cells are pluripotent by introducing them into mice, where they developed into all the major cell types, including liver, heart, brain, skin and muscle. While the technique is promising, its safety and efficacy still must be proven in humans.
MIchael Cook
Creative commons
CiPSC
stem cells
- Queensland legalises ‘assisted dying’ - September 19, 2021
- Is abortion a global public health emergency? - April 11, 2021
- Dutch doctors cleared to euthanise dementia patients who have advance directives - November 22, 2020
More Stories
Mortality rates for American kids are rising for the first time in 50 years
US President Joe Biden is so concerned about the future of American children that he inserted a mandate for affordable...
Will Pope Francis be composted?
Will Pope Francis be composted instead of buried in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome with his predecessors? It’s unlikely. But...
The virtues and the vices of the outrageous
A Norwegian bioethicist, Anna Smajdor, recently set out a case for “Whole Body Gestational Donation” – using the wombs of...
More than 200 people have been treated with experimental CRISPR therapies
Scientists believe that CRISPR gene editing technologies will transform medicine. But how many people have been treated so far? According...
Asia-Pacific IVF market could reach US$46 billion by 2031
According to a market survey by Allied Market Research, IVF is booming in the Asia-Pacific region. The market size was...
Third global summit on human genome editing: Moving on after the He experiment
The much anticipated Third International Summit on Human Genome Editing was held in London earlier this month to explore the...