Gene by gene, scientists dig for the triggers

James Thomson knew that to send a cell back to its past was no trivial matter. Like generations of biologists, the University of Wisconsin-Madison stem cell pioneer had been taught that development was a one-way street; it began with an embryo and finished with all the mature cells that make up the body. Yet in the summer of 2007, Thomson and scientists around the globe were racing to do what once had been thought impossible: to reverse the natural process and return old cells to their embryonic origin. They sought the healing potential of embryonic stem cells - immortal in a lab dish, able to become any cell in the body - but without the controversial destruction of human embryos.

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<p><a href="http://www.physorg.com/news150098009.html">Gene by gene, scientists dig for the triggers</a></p> <p>James Thomson knew that to send a cell back to its past was no trivial matter. Like generations of biologists, the University of Wisconsin-Madison stem cell pioneer had been taught that development was a one-way street; it began with an embryo and finished with all the mature cells that make up the body. Yet in the summer of 2007, Thomson and scientists around the globe were racing to do what once had been thought impossible: to reverse the natural process and return old cells to their embryonic origin. They sought the healing potential of embryonic stem cells - immortal in a lab dish, able to become any cell in the body - but without the controversial destruction of human embryos.</p>