John Gurdon,Shinya Yamanaka Win share Nobel Prize for Cloning and Stem Cell Discoveries

John Gurdon,Shinya Yamanaka Win share Nobel Prize for Cloning and Stem Cell Discoveries

John Gurdon from the UK and Shinya Yamanaka from Japan were awarded the prize for changing adult cells into stem cells, which can become any other type of cell in the body.

John Gordon and  Shinya Yamanaka will share a prize of eight million Swedish kronur (£750,000).

John Gurdon =  Cambridge University
Shinya Yamanaka =  Kyoto University

Prof Gurdon's work in frogs demonstrated that adult cells could be introduced into an egg and that it could still form into a fully functional tadpole and frog.

Prof Gurdon used a gut sample to clone frogs and Prof Yamanaka altered genes to reprogramme cells.

Gurdon school report aged 15

"I believe Gurdon has ideas about becoming a scientist; on his present showing this is quite ridiculous; if he can't learn simple biological facts he would have no chance of doing the work of a specialist, and it would be a sheer waste of time, both on his part and of those who would have to teach him."

In 1962, John Gurdon showed that the genetic information inside a cell taken from the intestines of a frog contained all the information need to create a whole new frog.
He took the genetic information and placed it inside a frog egg.
The resulting clone developed into a normal tadpole.

The technique would eventually give rise to Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal.

Forty years later Shinya Yamanaka used a different approach. Rather than transferring the genetic information into an egg, he reset it.

He added four genes to skin cells, which transformed them into stem cells, which in turn could become specialized cells.

The Nobel committee said, "The discoveries of Gurdon and Yamanaka have shown that specialized cells can turn back the developmental clock under certain circumstances.

What will be benefits in simple language we can say that
To repair a damaged heart,  a stem cell will be used and stem cell will be created using  any small part of the skin.

This is will change the medicinal approach forever.

Reality views by sm –

Tuesday, October 09, 2012

Tags -  Nobel Prize