New insights into cellular reprogramming revealed by genomic analysis

The ability to drive somatic, or fully differentiated, human cells back to a pluripotent or "stem cell" state would overcome many of the significant scientific and social challenges to the use of embryo-derived stem cells and help realize the promise of regenerative medicine. Recent research with mouse and human cells has demonstrated that such a transformation ("reprogramming") is possible, although the current process is inefficient and, when it does work, poorly understood. But now, thanks to the application of powerful new integrative genomic tools, a cross-disciplinary research team from Harvard University, Whitehead Institute, and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard has uncovered...

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