More Evidence that Embryonic Stem Cell Research is Unnecessary

Last year I wrote a report on this blog about how a scientist developed a way to transform ordinary skin cells into stem cells that could serve as a suitable ethical substitute for embryonic stem cells. The stem cells could then be changed into a variety of different types of cells.

Now scientists have come up with a way to convert normal cells directly into another closely related type of cell without going through the stem cell step at all. They have done it with mice pancreas cells, converting ordinary pancreas cells which don’t produce insulin into differentiated type that does produce insulin.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/27/AR2008082701829.html