Honoré. John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka
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The discovery that the cell development is not a one way street won the Nobel Prize this year in physiology or medicine. John B. Gurdon, a developmental biologist at the Wellcome Trust / Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute at the University of Cambridge in the UK and Shinya Yamanaka, a researcher on stem cells at Kyoto University in Japan and the Gladstone Institute at the University of California, San Francisco, won the prize for their discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to resemble versatile cells of a very early embryo. These so-called pluripotent cells have the ability to become any of the body's tissues. The work of the pair that connects two eras of modern biology, "revolutionized our understanding of how cells and organisms develop," the Nobel Committee in its announcement attribution.
The ability to reprogram adult cells allowed the researchers to study certain diseases in new ways and raises the possibility of one day becoming replacement tissue or even organs in the laboratory. "I think everyone who works on developmental biology and on the understanding of disease mechanisms will applaud these excellent choices and clear to the Nobel Prize," said John Hardy, a neuroscientist at University College London. "The work countless laboratories build on the breakthroughs they have pioneered. "
In normal development, the mature cells their pluripotent state in various specialized cell type-a neuron, muscle cell or a skin cell, for example. For many years, development biologists thought that the cellular maturation process was irreversible. In 1962, however, John Gurdon, working at Oxford University, has shown that under the right conditions, an adult cell nucleus could become young again development. He replaced the nucleus of a frog's egg with a nucleus taken from a cell in the intestine of a tadpole. In some cases, the egg cell was able to "reprogram" the DNA in the nucleus and the tadpole egg cell developed into an adult frog the first animal cloned from mature cells * . Other researchers built on the findings of Gurdon, the most famous of the team that cloned Dolly the sheep using a similar feat of nuclear transplantation. This breakthrough has shown that mammalian cells may undergo the same transformation of immature to mature.
More than four decades later, Shinya Yamanaka showed that an egg cell is not necessary to reprogram the DNA of a cell pluripotency. Working with mouse cells, Yamanaka and his colleagues found that adding extra copies of four genes to skin cells growing in a lab dish, they could induce the cells to act like embryonic stem (ES ) cells, pluripotent cells from early embryos. A few years later, Yamanaka and other teams have shown that a similar technique could work on human cells. This allowed scientists to establish stable growth of cell populations from patients with diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Researchers can study these cells, called induced pluripotent stem (iPS), for an overview of the disease. In the case of ALS, they can encourage them to become muscle and nerve cells that mimic the problems seen in people with the condition. Yamanaka, who originally trained as an orthopedic surgeon, welcomed the Nobel honor with a note of caution about the speed, it could provide medical benefits. "I feel a great joy, but at the same time a great responsibility. The iPS technology is new and actually we have not been able to apply these findings to develop new therapies or medication. I think we need further research to make a contribution to society as soon as possible. "
workYamanaka was also welcomed because it gives researchers a potential alternative to human ES cells, which were ethically and politically controversial given their source. scientists are still working to understand exactly how the reprogrammed cells by adding genes differ from pluripotent cells found in embryos, and how these differences may affect how cells . can be used
Gurdon issued a statement outlining how the research of two scientists had left the basic science in medicine: "I am extremely honored to have achieved this spectacular recognition, and very happy to be due to receive with Shinya Yamanaka, whose work has brought the whole field within the realistic expectation of therapeutic benefits. ... It is particularly nice to see how pure basic research, originally aimed at testing the genetic identity of different cell types in the body, found have clear human health prospects. "
At the press conference at Kyoto University today, Yamanaka said he could not have accomplished his work without the financial support it received from the country." I really feel that Japan is receiving the award. "in 09, he and Gurdon shared the prize Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research
More background information of Science and science :. Now
- Rewrite the cells their own destiny (one of science [1945024InsightsdelaDécenniedel'])
- Yamanaka initial meeting announcement in 06, covered by science NOW
- First publications in 07 describing ways to create induced pluripotent stem cells using mouse cells, as covered by science NOW profile
- 08 science Yamanaka
- First demonstration that induced pluripotent stem cells can be created using human cells, as covered by science NOW
- science [1945024s'] 08 Breakthrough of the year: reprogramming cells
- (Related video Discovery of the year and reference web links associated with the reprogramming of cells)
- 2010 article on how reprogrammed cells help researchers study various diseases ( science podcast on the same subject)
* This article has been corrected to reflect that the frogs Gurdon are not the first cloned animal, but the first animal cloned from mature cells.
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