Scientists get closer to making safe patient-specific stem cells

But many scientists think the safest approach is to replace the genes altogether with so-called small molecules. In a study published online today in the journal Cell Stem Cell, researchers from the Harvard Stem Cell Institute report that a single compound they dubbed RepSox can replace two of the four key reprogramming genes.

“We’re halfway home, and remarkably we got halfway home with just one chemical,” senior author Kevin Eggan, a professor in Harvard’s department of stem cell and regenerative biology, said in a statement….

Read full story (The Los Angeles Times)