A new technology for direct cell reprogramming

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A new technology for direct cell reprogramming

2019  |  Julian Gough

Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka changed the course of cell therapy in 2007 when he showed that mature human cells could be induced into an embryonic-like state. The discovery of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells won Dr Yamanaka the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2012, which he shared with the UK cell biologist Sir John Gurdon.

Since then, an increasing number of companies have been using iPS cells for disease modeling and drug screening and a few are developing medical therapeutics. A question now is whether the significant findings of Dr Yamanaka and colleagues can be taken to new levels by applying engineering principles to biology to make any cell type from any other cell type without going through the pluripotent stem cell, or even progenitor cell state.

How can big data and network-based algorithms be applied to transform Dr. Yamanaka’s Nobel-winning discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to direct cell reprogramming of any starting cell type to any other?

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