Groundbreaking stem cell research secures Nobel prize for duo

Shinya Yamanaka. Photo: AP

TOKYO: Shinya Yamanaka could have made bits of sewing machines for a living. Instead, his tinkering with the building blocks of life has made him a Nobel prize winner.

Born in 1962 at the start of Japan's manufacturing boom, Professor Yamanaka was the only son of a factory owner who produced parts for sewing machines. But even as the country's industries expanded in the 1970s, his father told him he should not take over the family business and instead become a doctor. He is now a leading authority on how cells work.

Professor Yamanaka and his fellow Nobel prize-winner, the Briton Sir John Gurdon, were being celebrated last night for their work on how cells can be reprogrammed.

Sir John Gurdon. Photo: AFP

''Nuclear reprogramming'' uses an adult cell to create a stem cell - a kind of blank slate that has the potential to become any other kind of cell in the body.

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Scientists say in this way they can generate materials either to experiment on, or to use within the body - perhaps as a means of repairing or even replacing damaged or diseased organs.

''Their findings have revolutionised our understanding of how cells and organisms develop,'' the Nobel jury declared.

By reprogramming human cells, ''scientists have created new opportunities to study diseases and develop methods for diagnosis and therapy''.

Original post:
Groundbreaking stem cell research secures Nobel prize for duo