• UCLA Health
  • myUCLAhealth
  • School of Medicine
U Magazine

U Magazine

U Magazine
  • Home
  • Current Issue
  • Centennial Campaign for UCLA Issue
  • Browse U Magazine
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • UCLA Health
  • myUCLAhealth
  • School of Medicine

U Magazine

Browse U Magazine

  1. Home
  2. Browse U Magazine
Share this
The Cutting Edge

Of Mice and Men

RESEARCHERS AT THE UCLA Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine (now named the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA) have found a new technique for reprogramming cells that may sidestep controversial cloning methods to allow another way to develop human-embryonic stem-cell lines.

Working closely with colleagues at Harvard, the UCLA scientists converted normal tissue cells from a mouse to cells with the same unlimited properties as embryonic stem cells, the cells that give rise to every cell type found in the body. Experimenting with mouse fibroblasts – cells that develop into connective tissue – the scientists added four transcription factors that changed the cells into pluripotent cells “virtually indistinguishable” from embryonic stem cells, explains co-lead author Dr. Kathrin Plath, an assistant professor of biological chemistry and an institute researcher. “We could find no evidence that they were different in any way. We were rather surprised at how well this reprogramming worked,” Dr. Plath says.

Last year, Japanese scientists discovered that the four transcription factors or genes could revert mouse skin cells to partially pluripotent cells. But scientists at UCLA and other university labs modified their procedure and were the first to reprogram the cells so they were identical to embryonic stem cells. Reprogramming adult stem cells into embryonic stem cells could generate a potentially limitless source of immune-compatible cells for tissue engineering and transplantation medicine. If the work can be replicated in human cells, it may mean that a patient’s skin cells, for example, could be reprogrammed to become embryonic stem cells that could then be prodded into becoming beta islet cells to treat diabetes, hematopoetic cells to create a new blood supply for a leukemia patient or motor neuron cells to treat Parkinson’s disease. This new technique could provide an alternative to somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), sometimes referred to as therapeutic cloning, a controversial method used to reprogram cells. SCNT has not yet been successfully accomplished with human cells.

Dr. Plath and her colleagues are now working to recreate the cell reprogramming in human cells, but it could take years to determine if the process is successful.


Previous
Cueing the Brain
Next
Hope for Wounded Warriors


YOU ARE VIEWING

Winter 2008

Winter 2008
Printable PDF
IN THIS ISSUE
  • New Beginnings
  • Proteins in the Key of G
  • Combating MS in Men
  • Research Revolution
  • Hail to the Chief
  • UCLA Ranks No. 3 in U.S.!
  • D-Day at UCLA
  • Cueing the Brain
  • Of Mice and Men
  • Hope for Wounded Warriors
  • Dr. Richard J. Shemin
  • Heart of Gold
  • Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery at UCLA
  • Profile in Courage
  • Clemente's Anatomy
  • Anatomy’s Next Wave
  • Anatomy From the Inside Out
  • Gray Matters
  • Remembering Dr. Dignam 1921-2006 / In Memoriam / Awards
  • An Apple for Teacher / Books Without Borders
  • Celebrate!
  • A Gift to Accelerate Stem-Cell Research / In Memoriam
  • Epilogue
Like Us on Facebook Follow Us on Twitter Subscribe to Our Videos on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Connect with Us on LinkedIn Follow us on Pinterest
UCLA Health hospitals ranked best hospitals by U.S. News & World Report
  • UCLA Health
  • Find a Doctor
  • School of Medicine
  • School of Nursing
  • UCLA Campus
  • Directory
  • Newsroom
  • Subscribe
  • Patient Stories
  • Giving
  • Careers
  • Volunteer
  • International Services
  • Privacy Practices
  • Nondiscrimination
  • Billing
  • Health Plans
  • Emergency
  • Report Broken Links
  • Terms of Use
  • 1-310-825-2631
  • Maps & Directions
  • Contact Us
  • Your Feedback
  • Report Misconduct
  • Get Social
  • Sitemap
Like Us on Facebook Follow Us on Twitter Subscribe to Our Videos on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Connect with Us on LinkedIn Follow us on Pinterest

Sign in to myUCLAhealth

Learn more about myUCLAhealth