Reprogrammed Cells

This week, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to Gurdon and Yamanaka for work related to cloning and reprogramming somatic cells to pluripotency. New York Times: "Cloning and Stem Cell Work Earns Nobel".

Also this week, there were a couple of good reprogramming-related science stories:

Ed Yong wrote in The Scientist about success in reprogramming a type of brain cells (pericytes) into neurons in both mouse and human cell cultures ... without cell divisions.

Pericytes,
Image  courtesy M. Karow et al., 2012

Growing New Neurons

"Making new neurons in the brain may not be as hard as once believed. Using just two proteins and without any cell divisions, scientists from Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich succeeded in reprogramming brain cells known as pericytes into neurons in both cultured cells from humans and mice."


And Katherine Harmon at Scientific American Blogs wrote about turning two types of mouse stem cells into viable mouse egg cells that were successfully fertilized and produced healthy baby mice.

Mouse pups from induced pluripotent
stem cell-derived eggs;
image courtesy of Katsuhiko Hayashi

Baby Mice Born from Eggs Made from Stem Cells

Stem cells have been coaxed into creating everything from liver cells to beating heart tissue. Recently, these versatile cells were even used to make fertile mouse sperm. ... Now two types of stem cells have been turned into viable mouse egg cells that were fertilized and eventually yielded healthy baby mice.