08-10-2012 10:32 British scientist Sir John Gurdon, along with Shinya Yamanaka from Japan, have jointly been awarded the Nobel prize for medicine for their work on stem cell research. Their research has uncovered a way to transform adult cells to an embryonic-like stage, that could lead in the future to damaged body tissue being able to be regrown. Gurdon held a news conference in London to discuss the research he has been working on for over 50 years. "In the 1950's we really didn't know whether all your different cells had the same genes or they don't and that was the purpose of the experiments I was doing. And the outcome was that they do. So that means that in principle you should be able to derive any one kind of cell from another, because they have all got the same genes, that was I think the contribution I made at that time," he said. Gurdon also joked that at school he was told by his teachers to stop studying science. He said, "I was at a school where you did no science until the age of 15, and then I did one term of science and then the schoolmaster … Continue reading →

04-10-2012 14:05 What is a stem cell? How are they made? How does The Parkinson's Institute use them to push towards a cure for Parkinson's disease? We are pleased to share with you the work of The Schuele and Nichols Laboratories at The Parkinson's Institute. Drs. Schuele and Nichols answer these questions, talk about their laboratory work and share how it's making a difference in the PD world. To learn more about the Schuele or Nichols lab, visit our website at http://www.thepi.org. Follow this link: Stem Cell Research at The Parkinson's Institute - Video … Continue reading →

The organisation said the lack of regulation is damaging investment and job creation in the area, and is making Ireland less competitive. Embryonic stem cell research is controversial because it uses cells from human embryos. However, adult stem cells are increasingly being used in research. Meanwhile, the Nobel prize for medicine went to two stem cell researchers from Japan and the UK. John Gurdon of the Gurdon Institute in Cambridge and Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University, discovered ways to create tissue that would act like embryonic cells, without the need to collect the cells from embryos. The Nobel committee said their work had revolutionised science. Stem cells have shown huge potential for the development of treatments for a range of conditions, including Parkinson's Disease, heart disease, strokes and spinal cord damage. As far back as 1962, Mr Gurdon became the first scientist to clone an animal, making a healthy tadpole from the egg of a frog with DNA from another tadpole's intestinal cell. That showed that developed cells carry the information to make every cell in the body - decades before other scientists made world headlines by cloning the first mammal from adult DNA, Dolly the sheep. More than 40 … Continue reading →

Shinya Yamanaka MD, PhD What are induced pluripotent stem cells? Induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, are a type of cell that has been reprogrammed from an adult cell, such as a skin or blood cell. iPS cells are pluripotent cells because, like embryonic stem cells, they can develop into virtually any type of cell. iPS cells are distinct from embryonic stem cells, however, because they are derived from adult tissue, rather than from embryos. iPS cells are also distinct from adult stem cells, which naturally occur in small numbers in thehuman body. In 2006, Shinya Yamanaka developed the method for inducing skin cells from mice into becoming like pluripotent stem cells and called them iPS cells. In 2007, Yamanaka did the same with adult human skin cells. Yamanakas experiments revealed that adult skin cells, when treated with four pieces of DNA (now called the Yamanaka factors), can induce skin cells to revert back to their pluripotent state. His discovery has since led to a variety of methods for reprogramming adult cells into stem cells that can become virtually any cell type such as a beating heart cell or a neuron that can transmit chemical signals in the brain. … Continue reading →