Madrid, Spain, July 23, 2013 - The Centre of Regenerative Medicine in Barcelona has managed to simplify the method for creating stem cells from adult cells.

A team of researchers from the Centre of Regenerative Medicine in Barcelona (CMRB), headed by scientist Juan Carlos Izpisúa, has managed to simplify the process for generating stem cells from human adult cells. This will smooth the way for obtaining pluripotent stem cells, in other words cells that can transform themselves into any kind of cell in an organism.

These adult cells have their biological clock reprogrammed to make them return to a non-specific state, meaning they can be created from the patient’s own cells, thereby avoiding rejection.

According to Spanish news agency EFE, the research done by Izpisúa’s team shows that the recipe for creating induced pluripotent stem cells “is much more versatile than was previously thought”. The process has involved changing a gene that it was previously thought to be impossible to replace.

“We have identified new, previously undescribed genes as the ones that induce the atypical reprogramming of stem cells, making it possible to re-programme somatic cells to become pluripotent ones”, said Izpisúa. “This finding could lead to the design of safer reprogramming protocols, and reduce the risk of cancerous mutations".

This new approach for obtaining stem cells is different from the one that led to Japan’s Shiunya Yamanaka winning the Nobel Prize. The CRMB, in collaboration with the Gene Expression Laboratory of the Salk Institute (United States), has discovered that pluripotency can be achieved by finely balancing the genes needed for cellular differentiation.

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