A team of scientists led by Dieter Egli and Scott Noggle at The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Laboratory in New York City has made an important advance in the development of patient-specific stem cells that could impact the study and treatment of diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's.
As reported in the journal Nature, for the first time the scientists have derived embryonic stem cells from individual patients by adding the nuclei of adult skin cells from patients with type 1 diabetes to unfertilized donor oocytes.
The achievement is significant because such patient-specific cells potentially can be transplanted to replace damaged or diseased cells in persons with diabetes and other diseases without rejection by the patient's immune system. The scientists report further work is necessary before such cells can be used in cell-replacement medicine.
This is a major advance in stem cell therapeutics. To read the rest of the article, click here.