MU scientists successfully convert pig tissue into stem cells

Stem cell research has been considered by some to be the next area in science that could potentially produce life-saving cures, but controversy over the issue has limited research opportunities.

An MU researcher thinks he has found a way to avoid the controversy altogether.

R. Michael Roberts, curator's professor of molecular biochemistry in MU's animal sciences division and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, is the head of an MU research team that has successfully created stem cells that "think" they are embryonic stem cells. The new cells are called induced pluripotent stem cells and are created from the cells of pigs' connective tissue. The group’s findings were published Tuesday in the serial Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The induced stem cells are very similar in appearance and behavior to embryonic stem cells from humans and mice and, like embryonic stem cells, have the potential to be converted into all the various types of tissue cells in the body. Roberts said the induced stem cells could then be used clinically as a substitute for embryonic stem cells for grafting particular types of tissue into pigs and then testing the safety of stem cell therapies before they are performed on humans.

Induced stem cells have many advantages over cells taken from embryos, Roberts said. For one, they allow researchers to avoid the controversial procedures utilized in the gathering of embryonic stem cells, he said; the method for creating induced stem cells does not involve cloning and does not utilize embryos.

"You may be able to get stem cells that way," Roberts said, referring to the embryonic stem cell procedure. "But the procedure scares the heck out of people because it is a form of cloning."

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