From Wired: "Blood drawn with a simple needle stick can be coaxed into producing stem cells that may have the ability to form any type of tissue in the body, three independent papers report... The new technique will allow scientists to tap a large, readily available source of personalized stem cells. ... Because taking blood is safe, fast and efficient compared to current stem cell harvesting methods, some of which include biopsies and pretreatments with drugs, researchers hope that blood-derived stem cells could one day be used to study and treat diseases. ... Three research groups used similar methods to prod certain immune cells in human blood to become induced pluripotent stem cells. Because they are reprogrammed adult cells, these stem cells share many of the same regenerative abilities as true embryonic stem cells but may not have as much versatility. ... Scientists' manipulations turned the stem cells in the new studies into several types of mature blood cells, including infection-fighting T cells. What's more, all the groups showed that a batch of the stem cells implanted into mice developed into the three main types of progenitor cells found in human embryos."

View the Article Under Discussion: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/07/stem-cells-from-human-blood-can-be-reprogrammed/

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