More than pluripotent

A group at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies has developed a method for generating pluripotent stem cells that solves the stability and scale-up problems of the commonly used approach, and results in a new type of stem cell that addresses one of the biggest hurdles - efficient transplantation into embryos. While this brings researchers closer to growing human tissues and organs in animals, it will likely trigger questions over when, how and whether that's a path to follow.

"These cells have the advantage that they can grow fast and homogeneously, and they are very stable," said Jun Wu, a research associate in Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte's lab at Salk and lead investigator on the study. ...