Induced stem cell lines may soon be available from Harvard

Darkfrog submitted, created time 3 months 1 week (sciencenow.sciencemag.org)

A few weeks ago, we talked about how researchers had been able to take a cell from an ALS patient and develop a working, research-quality pluripotent cell line. Well the next step has been taken.

I've been saying that induced pluripotent stem cells might become the preferred research model (over embryonic stem cells), but only if they became easier to obtain than embryonic stem cells. It looks as though that might happen soon. The Harvard Stem Cell Institute is dedicating an iPS core lab

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Induced stem cells become research model for ALS

Darkfrog submitted, created time 3 months 3 weeks (sciencenow.sciencemag.org)

Induced stem cells are coming into their own as a research model. Scientists at Harvard and Columbia have created a culture of motor cells from the skin of a patient known to be afflicted with amyotropic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gherig's disease.

The patient has a rare form of ALS that is known to be caused by an inherited mutation. This represents only 2% of ALS patients. This may be significant because critics claim that partial replicants of the patient's nerve cells will be of little use as research models

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