Scientists Create Stem Cells Without Embryos - East Idaho News
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Scientists Create Stem Cells Without Embryos

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Getty 012914 DNAResearch?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1391041412365iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Scientists discovered a new method to create stem cells using an acid bath, bringing hope that embryonic stem cells can be created without genetic manipulation.

Researchers tested the process on mice and said if it can be reproduced in humans, the results would be groundbreaking. Doctors would be able to repair damaged tissues with material grown from patients’ own cells.

Previously used methods took cells from the body, such as blood cells, and turned them into stem cells by making genetic changes. The new process instead puts stress on the specific cells by exposing them to an acidic solution, the New York Times reports. Scientists at the Riken Center for Development Biology in Japan and at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston participated in the discovery.

The researchers published their findings in the journal Nature. The STAP cells, which stands for stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency, were able to transform into all the cell types in the body after being injected into mice embryos. The mice, once matured, were able to pass the genetic material from the STAP cells onto their offspring. They also found that those same cells were able to form material for placentas.

Scientists are testing whether the technique can work on humans.

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