Oct

2012

7:54am, EDT

Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, Kyoto University via Reuters

An undated handout photo shows iPS cells derived from adult human dermal fibroblasts released by Kyoto University Professor Shinya Yamanaka. Briton John Gurdon and Japan's Shinya Yamanaka won the Nobel Prize for Medicine on October 8, 2012 for work on creating stem cells, opening the door to new methods to diagnose and treat diseases.

A close-up view of the stem cell research that won a Nobel prize

Reuters reports — Scientists from Britain and Japan shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine on Monday for the discovery that adult cells can be reprogrammed back into stem cells which can turn into any kind of tissue and may one day repair damaged organs.

John Gurdon, 79, of the Gurdon Institute in Cambridge, Britain and Shinya Yamanaka, 50, of Kyoto University in Japan, discovered ways to create tissue that would act like embryonic cells, without the need to harvest embryos.

The big hope for stem cells is that they can be used to replace damaged tissues in everything from spinal cord injuries to Parkinson's disease. Read the full story.

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