Confocal microscopic image of a colony of human<unk> s derived from a patient with oculocutaneous albinism. Red indicates transcription factor Oct-4, green the protein SSEA4, and blue the nuclei of the cells. Human<unk> s colonies. The spindle-shaped cells in the background are mouse fibroblast cells. Only those cells comprising the center colony are human<unk> s.<unk> s (also known as<unk> s or<unk> Cs) are a type of<unk> <unk>  cell that can be generated directly from a somatic cell. The<unk> C technology was pioneered by Shinya Yamanaka’s lab in Kyoto, Japan, who showed in 2006 that the introduction of four specific genes (named Myc, Oct3/4, Sox2 and Klf4), collectively known as Yamanaka factors, encoding transcription factors could convert somatic cells into<unk> <unk>  cells. He was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize along with Sir John Gurdon "for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become<unk> ."<unk> <unk>  cells hold promise in the field of regenerative medicine. Because they can propagate indefinitely, as well as give rise to every other cell type in the body (such as neurons, heart, pancreatic, and liver cells), they represent a single source of cells that could be used to replace those lost to damage or disease. The most well-known type of<unk> <unk>  cell is the embryonic<unk>  cell. However, since the generation of embryonic<unk>  cells involves destruction (or at least manipulation) of the pre-implantation stage embryo, there has been much controversy surrounding their use. Patient-matched embryonic<unk>  cell lines can now be derived using somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Since<unk> Cs can be derived directly from adult tissues, they not only bypass the need for embryos, but can be made in a patient-matched manner, which means that each individual could have their own<unk> <unk>  cell line. These unlimited supplies of autologous cells could be used to generate transplants without the risk of immune rejection. While the<unk> C technology has not yet advanced to a stage where therapeutic transplants have been deemed safe,<unk> Cs are readily being used in personalized drug discovery efforts and understanding the patient-specific basis of disease. Yamanaka named<unk> Cs with a lower case "i" due to the popularity of the iPod and other products. In his Nobel seminar, Yamanaka cited the earlier seminal work of Harold Weintraub on the role of MyoD in reprogramming cell fate to a muscle lineage as an important precursor to the discovery of<unk> Cs.
Induced pluripotent stem cell
Fetal tissue implant
Neural stem cell
Neural tube
HybriCell
Embryoid body
Stem cell
Hematopoietic stem cell