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With induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells), biologists can “turn back the clock” and turn an individual's differentiated adult cells into embryonic cells that are like his or her own (JW Gen Med Dec 28 2007). Yet important problems with this approach must be overcome: (1) The technique requires introduction of genes into adult cells — a process that can induce tumors if they insert into the wrong place in the genome; (2) although iPS cells are very much like embryonic stem cells, they still retain some features of adult cells; and (3) the process is very inefficient, transforming only about 1 in 1000 adult cells into iPS cells.
Rather than introducing genes (i.e., DNA) into cells, an international team used mRNA made by the genes. The r…