In 2006, Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka turned back the biological clock of mature mouse cells, reprogramming them into stem cells capable of becoming any cell types. This accomplishment led to his sharing a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2012 with Sir John Gurdon, another pioneer in the field of regenerative medicine. The scientific...
Stem cell research has elicited both excitement and controversy since its earliest days. Hematopoietic stem cell transplants have been employed for some time in the treatment of certain blood cancers. More recently, researchers have reported clinical successes in using bone marrow transplants to treat sickle cell disease as well as multiple sclerosis, where bone marrow...