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Stem Cell Hotel
07 January 2013

Stem Cell Hotel

In Scott Fitzgerald’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the eponymous character’s life trajectory is reversed. Thanks to the pioneering work of Sir John Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka, scientists can engender the same fate on mature cells, winding back their clock until they are stem cells once again. Like naturally occurring versions (highly magnified and false-coloured human stem cell pictured) these inducible forms have the potential to regenerate tissue. But as they can be created from any adult cell they are more readily available and a powerful resource for studying the effects of genetic changes on cell fate. Now, providing experts the opportunity to collaborate, the Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Initiative is setting up a ‘stem cell hotel’ at London’s Guy’s Hospital. Funded by the Wellcome Trust and Medical Research Council, the aim is to accelerate the translation of stem cell research into improved diagnosis and treatment of disease.

Written by Lindsey Goff

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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