It's no surprise to the scientific community that pioneering work in the area of stem cell biology has been formally acknowledged by the Nobel Prize committee in Karolinska, Sweden, who announced yesterday that the 2012 prize for medicine is shared between two groundbreaking individuals: British scientist John Gurdon and Japanese researcher Shinya Yamanaka.
These scientists discovered that specialized terminally differentiated adult cells can in fact be reprogrammed and turned into what are termed pluripotent stem cells (pictured above) that can be differentiated into cells of any another tissue. Obviously this has crashed open previously closed doors that were sealed with not a little controversy, not least as it allows researchers to sidestep the ethical and similarly controversial issues surrounding the use of embryonic stem cells.
Most of us are probably aware that George W. Bush radically banned federal funding for the use of embryonic stem cells (those derived after a given date) in research, which thankfully was overturned by Barack Obama. This has made many more such cell lines available again to researchers and that can only be considered a very good thing. Come to think of it, Obama should consider bringing that up in some of his debates: it might help swing people his way a little!
The potential in such stem cell technology is clearly huge in situations such as Parkinson's or heart disease, MS and diabetes where the capacity to grow new tissue to replace the old (or lost) tissue could theoretically have life-changing outcomes for patients. Imagine if we were able to replace damaged neural tissue in Alzheimer's disease patients, thereby restoring them to a more normal quality of life? While we are a long way off still from routine stem cell therapeutic intervention in such conditions, it is probably only a matter of time due to such breakthroughs as these.
It was Gurdon who showed in 1962 (amazingly, the same year in which Yamanaka was born) that DNA from adult tadpole cells could be used to make another tadpole, basically paving the way for the famous cloning experiments that produced Dolly the sheep in 1997. That was proof positive that the process also worked in mammals, and thus began the frenzied debate about "human cloning" which has captivated us ever since.
In much more recent times, Yamanaka showed in 2006 that a fairly simple process could be used to convert adult mouse cells into a form of immature stem cells capable of differentiation into any cell type, and he later repeated the experiment in human cells. It truly now seems to be the case that each of our cells, even when supposedly terminally differentiated into a skin cell, for example, retains all of the information to become another cell type and can be induced to do so. Such so-called "blank slate" stem cells were considered a dream by many for a long time.
That the two researchers cited come from entirely different generations might seem surprising but it is in fact illustrative of the cumulative effect of a given major discovery, not only in and of itself, but further what other major breakthroughs it nucleates. Such is the scientific process. Yamanaka might owe Gurdon in a certain fashion, but one could also argue that more recent breakthroughs by his team (among others) are what shone the spotlight back onto Gurdon's initial work. In any case, both men were clearly delighted with the news.
Developmental biology just got a huge boost from this shared prize, and it ought to further legitimize the entire realm of stem cell therapy as an exciting, transformational tool in modern medicine. Hopefully, the fear mongers and those who choose to believe their hysterics will be sidelined into silence once sick or dying patients are cured by novel therapeutics derived from stem cell research.
I had to smile at Gurdon's anecdote that his headmaster at high school considered his desire to become a scientist as "completely ridiculous". That headmaster should be turning in his grave tonight! Us "fledgling scientists" never have it easy, and my own recollections of such dismissal are woven into my new book "THE MOLECULES", which got published on the same day that the Nobel Prize for Medicine went to Gurdon. Now that is definitely a mere coincidence, but it is one that I can surely live with! - Kevin Mc
PS Today we heard of the 2012 Nobel Prize for Physics which was (also) shared between American David Wineland and Serge Haroche of France for their work on quantum particle physics. Keep your eyes peeled for the Chemistry prize tomorrow, Literature on Thursday and the Peace Prize on Friday!
This blog deserves a standing ovation!!!!!
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