Reprogrammed Cells Kept Bug-Free by SIRT1

April 23, 2014

(Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News) – Regenerative medicine—the promise of rejuvenating or replacing damaged or diseased tissues—will most likely rely on the use of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, which are obtained when adult cells are essentially thrown into evolutionary reverse. This abrupt change can be hard on cells, which may suffer chromosomal abnormalities and DNA damage. And so the bright vistas of regenerative medicine are shadowed by a stubborn cloud—the uncertainty thatstem cells that are derived from adult cells are really safe.