Biology & Genetics · 2006
Induction of Pluripotent Stem Cells from Mouse Embryonic and Adult Fibroblast Cultures by Defined Factors
Kazutoshi Takahashi, Shinya Yamanaka
Overview
Takahashi and Yamanaka showed that ordinary adult cells can be reprogrammed back into an embryonic-like, pluripotent state using just four genes. These induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells can become any cell type, without the ethical concerns of embryonic stem cells.
Created induced pluripotent stem cells; won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Medicine.
Key findings
Methods
A screen of 24 candidate pluripotency genes was narrowed by retroviral transduction into mouse fibroblasts carrying a drug-selection marker for an embryonic-stem-cell gene, identifying the minimal set of factors that switched on pluripotency.
Keywords
Related papers
Biology & Genetics
A Programmable Dual-RNA-Guided DNA Endonuclease in Adaptive Bacterial Immunity
This paper turned a bacterial immune system into a programmable gene-editing tool. Doudna, Charpentier and colleagues showed that the Cas9 enzyme, guided by a single engineered RNA, can be directed to cut any chosen DNA sequence.
Biology & Genetics
Initial Sequencing and Analysis of the Human Genome
The public Human Genome Project's first analysis of the human genome sequence. It presented a draft covering most of the genome and drew early conclusions about the surprisingly small number of human genes.
Biology & Genetics
Viable Offspring Derived from Fetal and Adult Mammalian Cells
The paper announcing Dolly the sheep, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell. It proved that the nucleus of a fully differentiated cell can be reset to support the development of a whole new animal.