Our bodies are made up of hundreds of different types of cells, but stem cells can become all of them. Over the last five years, scientists have made great advances in reprogramming specialised adult cells back into a stem-like state, turning back the clock and restoring their lost potential. These “induced pluripotent stem cells” or iPSCs could be used to create personalised treatments for diseases, or even new body parts, which are tailored to an individual’s genome. The journal Science named iPSCs as its Breakthrough of the Year in 2008. Since their discovery in 2006, research on these cells has rocketed ahead and this timeline charts the progress of this exciting field, right up to today's latest discovery. For readers who are using Readers or phones and cannot see the timeline, all of its content is available as text below. This timeline was inspired by John Rennie's manifesto on how to improve science journalism, by looking at the stories that lead up to new discoveries, rather than focusing on every new paper in isolation.
Reprogrammed stem cells on Dipity.
Aug 26, 2005 - The seeds are planted Kevin Eggan at Harvard University found that he could reprogram adult skin cells
into an embryonic state by fusing them with actual embryonic stem cells. The term iPSC hadn’t even been coined yet, but this was an important step. It showed that adult cells can regain some of their lost potential and become more ‘stem-like’. It also showed that embryonic stem cells have something inside them that can help adult cells on their way. The challenge was to find these elusive chemicals... Aug 10, 2006 - The first iPSCs Shinya Yamanaka from Kyoto University fired the starting pistol
. His team was the first to successfully turn back the clock on adult cells. They transformed skin cells from the tails of adult mice into those that looked a lot like embryonic stem cells. Like true embryonic stem cells, these “induced pluripotent stem cells" (iPSCs) could divide into a wide variety of cells and tissues. The technique depended on just four genes - Oct4, Sox2, c-Myc and Klf4 – a quartet that would come to be known as Yamanaka factors. Jun 6, 2007 - iPSCs work in mouse embryos Yamanaka expanded on his earlier work
