Andreas Seibert / Lookatonline for TIME
LEADING LIGHT: Yamanaka, a former orthopedic surgeon, knows how to knit research together with practical applications
Posted on 11/19/2007 5:25:46 PM PST by neverdem
Everything about Shinya Yamanaka's discovery was right—except for the timing. The 44-year-old Kyoto University stem-cell researcher had found a way to genetically reprogram an ordinary mouse skin cell to revert to the virtual equivalent of its embryonic state, in which it has the potential to grow into any kind of tissue. The finding was a promising first step toward the creation of stem-cell lines for near-miraculous medical treatments—and because Yamanaka did not use human embryos, his technique offered researchers everywhere a way to sidestep the ethical controversies that have dogged the field since its birth. But it was March 2006, just months after the South Korean stem-cell scientist Hwang Woo Suk—who had become an international sensation after claiming to have cloned a human embryo, a first—had been exposed as a fraud. As another Asian stem-cell scientist announcing a surprise advance, Yamanaka knew his peers would put him under the microscope. "I was very nervous," he recalls. A few weeks later at a scientific conference in Whistler, Canada, where he delivered his findings to an audience of international colleagues, "I could tell from their tone that many people did not believe me," he says.
Vindication came on June 7, when the rest of the scientific world caught up with Yamanaka. Two separate teams of stem-cell researchers affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University and the University of California, Los Angeles published papers essentially confirming and refining Yamanaka's findings, while his own team released a new study that improved on his original research. The collective work—which one cloning pioneer compared to turning lead into gold—raises the possibility that scientists might one day be able to reprogram a patient's own adult cells to transform into human embryonic stem cells and then into heart, nerve or any other kind of tissue. That...
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
Looks like the Japanese have leaped ahead of the US because they did not feel obliged to use embryonic stem cells. The lack of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research as become the excuse de jour for American failures in this field.
Related Links makes it easy to scan.
“The lack of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research as become the excuse de jour for American failures in this field.”
Like global warming, the scientific community went on their own Tulip Bulb hysteria. A mixture of hysteria and money fueled the thing, all covered by pictures of sick actors and deformed little kids.
It reminds me of the Middle Ages, when spices were thought to fight the Plague, and caused Spain to fund Christopher Columbus’ voyage.
Darn ... you’ve still got Peach on your ping list????
Why not?
Well, that certainly did get an overload of exposure in the MSM
(/SARC)
Dolly creator Prof Ian Wilmut shuns cloning 16/11/2007 | Roger Highfield
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1927159/posts
Just for the record, spices do fight the plague—that is, they can repel the lice and fleas that cause it. Pyrethrum flower, lavender, and so on. Thieves covered themselves with camphor to rob the houses of plague victims without catching the disease.Virtually every spice you can think of kills or repels something. That's why spices are so important in the preserving of meat.
Columbus's voyage in the broader sense was made necessary by the Moslem conquest of Constantinople in 1453. The Ottomans cut off Western trade to the East, so other routes needed to be found. The Portuguese tried by working their way around Africa, finding new trading spots as they did. The Spanish were convinced by a Genovese navigator that there was another way, by sailing West. . .
I like the tulipomania allusion for global-warming and stem-cell profiteering. Those are the kinds of businesses Ralph Cramden would be very excited about.
Banned many moons ago. I didn’t mean any harm, I just noticed her name on your ping.
Now, the official line is "please note that we're not doing this because of ethics, but because the science is driving us this way." (My blog and the bioethics.net blog, today.)
Thanks for the links.
BTTT
Stem Cell Breakthrough Uses No Embryos
USDA revokes OK for Tyson chicken labels
FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.
“Looks like the Japanese have leaped ahead of the US because they did not feel obliged to use embryonic stem cells. The lack of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research as become the excuse de jour for American failures in this field.”
? Your two statements appear to conflict ... I would think the lack of Federal funding for embyonic stem cell research would have INCREASED the Federal funding and therefore the results obtained for NON-embryonic research.
My guess is that the Japanese were first simply because of the over-regulation and scrutinity given to any stem-cell research in this country.
Mice, mice, baby, to go, to go...
New Stem Cell Method Could Ease Ethical Concerns
NY Times | November 21, 2007 | GINA KOLATA
Posted on 11/20/2007 4:23:29 PM EST by neverdem
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1928516/posts
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