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In a 2006 landmark study, scientists inserted certain genes, which normally are activated only in nondifferentiated embryonic stem cells (ESCs), into differentiated cells — thereby “reprogramming” the differentiated cells into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. Like ESCs, iPS cells could be reprogrammed yet again to become any type of specialized cell (JW Gen Med Dec 29 2008).
In 2008, using the same logic, Harvard scientists identified genes that normally are activated only in pancreatic β cells and activated them in pancreatic exocrine cells: The exocrine cells were reprogrammed directly to become insulin-producing β cells, without becoming iPS cells first (JW Gen Med Sep 23 2008). Now, a team from Stanford has accomplished a more remar…