Gail Martin, PhD Since 1981, when UCSFs Gail Martin, PhD, co-discovered embryonic stem cells in mice and coined the term embryonic stem cell, UCSF has been a key player in the stem cell field. The success in 1998 by the University of Wisconsins James Thomson in deriving human embryonic stem cells from embryos propelled the stem cell research field forward. Beginning in the late 1990s, UCSFs Roger Pedersen, PhD, was one of two University scientists nationwide the other being James Thomson, DVM, PhD, of the University of Wisconsin to pioneer the human embryonic stem cell field. Following Thomsons 1998 discovery of a technique for deriving human embryonic stem cells from donated embryos left over following in vitro fertilization efforts, Pedersens lab derived two of its own lines of cells using the same technique. In 2006, Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD, a senior investigator and the L.K. Whittier Foundation Investigator in Stem Cell Biology at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease and a professor of anatomy at UCSF, 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. Shinya Yamanaka, MD, … Continue reading →

John Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday for their research on resetting cells to their earliest developmental stages.The work has yet to yield a clear breakthrough in medical treatment, but it has revolutionized scientists ability to study both normal and diseased development. Gurdon, 79, performed his seminal work in the late 1950s and early 1960sa good deal of it before Yamanaka was born. In his most famous study, Gurdon showed that replacing the nucleus of an adult cell with the nucleus of an embryonic cell reset the adult cell to an embryonic state: Many of the cells became tadpoles. This strongly suggested that embryonic-state DNA and the molecules that controlled gene expression in the nucleus were sufficient to make a cell "pluripotent" againor capable of turning into any type of tissue in the body. Some40 years later, Yamanaka took this further by showing that adult mouse skin cells could be reset to their embryonic state just by adding a set of genes into the cells nuclei, and he later reduced this number to just four genes. The cells are now referred to as induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, … Continue reading →

Not a lot has been said about embryonic stem-cell research in this presidential campaign, in stark contrast to previous years when this issue stood prominently with marriage equality in the culture wars of politics. President Obama supports taxpayer-funded embryonic stem-cell research. GOP nominee Mitt Romney opposes it. Here's a nuanced account of Romney's position. But the issue is certain to come up now that the 2012 Nobel Prize in medicine is going to John Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka for their groundbreaking discovery that cells in the body can be reprogrammed and customized for treatments of diseases, including Parkinson's and diabetes. The political gamechanger is that the work of the British researcher and the Japanese scientist paved the way to making the equivalent of embryonic stem cells without using actual embryonic cells. The discovery sidesteps the ethical and political questions that have plagued researchers and Congress. Embryos are destroyed when stem cells are extracted from them. That extraction is considered by those who oppose abortion rights to be tantamount to taking a life. On those grounds they oppose embryonic stem-cell research. I disagree with that viewpoint because a) I'm pro-choice and support a woman's right to prevent conception or terminate it … Continue reading →

SHINYA Yamanaka could have made bits of sewing machines for a living. Instead, his tinkering with the building blocks of life has made him a Nobel prize winner. Born in 1962 in a Japan beginning a decades-long manufacturing boom, Yamanaka was the only son of a factory owner who produced parts for sewing machines. But even as the country's industries exploded in the 1970s, his father told him he should not follow the traditional Japanese path and take over the family business, but become a doctor. Half a century later and after a stint as an orthopaedic surgeon, he is a leading authority on how cells work. Kyoto University-based Yamanaka was being celebrated on Monday for his work, alongside Briton John Gurdon, on how cells can be reprogrammed. So-called "nuclear reprogramming" uses a fully-developed adult cell to create a stem cell - a kind of blank slate that has the potential to become any other kind of cell in the body. Scientists say in this way they can generate materials either to experiment on, or to use within the body - perhaps as a means of repairing or even replacing damaged or diseased organs. Gurdon's work proved that mature cells … Continue reading →

Shinya Yamanaka of Japan and John Gurdon of Britain won the Nobel Prize on Monday for work in cell programming, a frontier that has raised dreams of growing replacement tissue for people crippled by disease. The two scientists were lauded for determining that adult cells can be transformed back to an infant, versatile state called stem cells. "Their findings have revolutionised our understanding of how cells and organisms develop," the Nobel jury declared. By reprogramming human cells, "scientists have created new opportunities to study diseases and develop methods for diagnosis and therapy," it added. Stem cells are precursor cells which differentiate into the various organs of the body. They have stirred huge excitement, with hopes that they can be coaxed into growing into replacement tissue for victims of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other diseases. Gurdon's achievement in 1962 was to discover that the DNA code in the nucleus of an adult frog cell held all the information to develop into every kind of cell. This meant that an adult cell could in essence be reprogrammed. His landmark discovery was initially met with scepticism, as the journey from immature to specialised cell was previously deemed irreversible. But his theory became accepted when … Continue reading →

By: Jenny Marder Nobel Prize winner Sir John Gurdon talks to reporters on Oct. 8, 2012 in London. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka from Japan have both been awarded the Nobel prize for medicine or physiology for their work as pioneers of stem cell research. Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images. In 1962, John B. Gurdon of the United Kingdom discovered that a cell removed from the gut of a frog contained all the genetic information necessary to create the whole frog. More than 40 years later, Shinya Yamanaka of Japan found that by introducing a few genes to a mature mouse cell, he could reprogram it into a stem cell, capable of developing into any cell in the body. Gurdon and Yamanaka share this year's Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology for their work in cellular reprogramming, 50 years after Gurdon's initial discovery. Their work in stem cells has led to a wave of advances, from cloning to allowing scientists to create embryonic cells without having to destroy embryos. Gurdon was still a graduate student when he first transplanted genetic information from the nucleus of an intestinal cell of one frog into the fertilized egg cell of another. That cell went … Continue reading →

8 October 2012 Last updated at 09:58 ET By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. British scientist John Gurdon told a news conference he still keeps a bad report given to him by his school science teacher Two pioneers of stem cell research have shared the Nobel prize for medicine or physiology. John Gurdon from the UK and Shinya Yamanaka from Japan were awarded the prize for changing adult cells into stem cells, which can become any other type of cell in the body. Prof Gurdon used a gut sample to clone frogs and Prof Yamanaka altered genes to reprogramme cells. The Nobel committee said they had "revolutionised" science. The prize is in stark contrast to Prof Gurdon's first foray into science when his biology teacher described his scientific ambitions as "a waste of time". "I believe Gurdon has ideas about becoming a scientist; on his present showing this is quite ridiculous; if he can't learn simple biological facts he would have no chance of doing the work of a specialist, and it would be a sheer waste of time, both on his part and of those who would … Continue reading →

Shinya Yamanaka. Photo: AP TOKYO: Shinya Yamanaka could have made bits of sewing machines for a living. Instead, his tinkering with the building blocks of life has made him a Nobel prize winner. Born in 1962 at the start of Japan's manufacturing boom, Professor Yamanaka was the only son of a factory owner who produced parts for sewing machines. But even as the country's industries expanded in the 1970s, his father told him he should not take over the family business and instead become a doctor. He is now a leading authority on how cells work. Professor Yamanaka and his fellow Nobel prize-winner, the Briton Sir John Gurdon, were being celebrated last night for their work on how cells can be reprogrammed. Sir John Gurdon. Photo: AFP ''Nuclear reprogramming'' uses an adult cell to create a stem cell - a kind of blank slate that has the potential to become any other kind of cell in the body. Advertisement Scientists say in this way they can generate materials either to experiment on, or to use within the body - perhaps as a means of repairing or even replacing damaged or diseased organs. ''Their findings have revolutionised our understanding of how … Continue reading →