Harvard Method Turns Skin to Stem Cell Alternative With Less Cancer Risk

Harvard Stem Cell Institute scientists have made synthetic mRNA to get four proteins into skin cells which transform them into cells with traits identical to stem cells. Four years ago Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University in Japan developed induced pluripotent stem, or IPS, cells. His method uses viruses to transform these skin cells into stem cells. These are being used to test new drugs, but can't be used in patient therapy due to their cancer risk. In the new method, the mRNA

degrades quickly, disappearing before it can cause problems.

This is interesting to me because I believe stem cell research should be explored, but as many people do, I have reservations about destroying embryos. If we can find alternatives to this, we can remove the political aspect of stem cell research.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-30/harvard-method-turns-skin-to-stem-cell-alternative-with-less-cancer-risk.html