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The scientist who cloned Dolly the sheep believes that a new approach to the production of stem cells could revolutionise the treatment of inherited diseases such as Parkinson's and motor neurone disease "within ten to twenty years".
In an interview with The Times, Professor Sir Ian Wilmut said that the "ethical" production of induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells, developed from human skin cells rather than taken from human embryos, represented an opportunity to tackle some of the hundreds of inherited diseases that could prove as important as the way that medical science had conquered many infectious diseases over the past 200 years.
The use of IPS cells in the laboratory differs from embryonic stem (ES) cells because they are not the result of embryonic cloning, the technique so bitterly opposed by the "pro-life" lobby. Instead, human cells taken in skin biopsies are effectively wound back until they are in embryonic form. In the long term it is hoped that IPS cells could be used in therapies to treat patients suffering from a variety of conditions - from heart attacks to...
In an interview with The Times, Professor Sir Ian Wilmut said that the "ethical" production of induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells, developed from human skin cells rather than taken from human embryos, represented an opportunity to tackle some of the hundreds of inherited diseases that could prove as important as the way that medical science had conquered many infectious diseases over the past 200 years.
The use of IPS cells in the laboratory differs from embryonic stem (ES) cells because they are not the result of embryonic cloning, the technique so bitterly opposed by the "pro-life" lobby. Instead, human cells taken in skin biopsies are effectively wound back until they are in embryonic form. In the long term it is hoped that IPS cells could be used in therapies to treat patients suffering from a variety of conditions - from heart attacks to...
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