Researchers create heart and blood cells from skin!
May 13th, 2008
The University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) has made a surprising creation – functioning heart and blood cells from skin cells. The stem cell researchers at UCLA modified and reprogrammed skin cells taken from mice to make them similar to embryonic stem cells further developing them into cardiac cells.
It has been found that ‘induced pluripotent stem cells’ (iPS cells) are the stem cells that can be differentiated into three types of cardiovascular cells which have the function of repairing the vessels in the heart and blood. The iPS cells don’t involve embryos or eggs but resemble embryonic cells. Embryonic cells have the property of developing into all types of cells found in our body.
“I believe iPS cells address many of the shortcomings of human embryonic stem cells and are the future of regenerative medicine,” said Dr. Robb MacLellan, a researcher at the Eli and Edythe Broad Read the rest of this story >>






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