Gurdon and Yamanaka share Nobel prize for stem cell work

BBC News, James Gallagher, Health and science reporter, 8 October 2012

Related Stories 

• Q&A: Stem cells

Prof John Gurdon has been
awarded the Nobel prize

Two pioneers of stem cell research have shared the Nobel prize for medicine or physiology.

John Gurdon from the UK and Shinya Yamanaka from Japan were awarded the prize for changing adult cells into stem cells, which can become any other type of cell in the body.

Prof Gurdon used a gut sample to clone frogs and Prof Yamanaka altered genes to reprogramme cells.

The Nobel committee said they had "revolutionised" science.

When a sperm fertilises an egg there is just one type of cell. It multiplies and some of the resulting cells become specialised to create all the tissues of the body including nerve and bone and skin.

It had been though to be a one-way process - once a cell had become specialised it could not change its fate.

In 1962, John Gurdon showed that the genetic information inside a cell taken from the intestines of a frog contained all the information need to create a whole new frog. He took the genetic information and placed it inside a frog egg. The resulting clone developed into a normal tadpole.

The technique would eventually give rise to Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal.

Reset button

Forty years later Shinya Yamanaka used a different approach. Rather than transferring the genetic information into an egg, he reset it.

He added four genes to skin cells which transformed them into stem cells, which in turn could become specialised cells. 

Shinya Yamanaka used four
genes to change a skin cell
into a stem cell

The Nobel committee said the discovery had "revolutionized our understanding of how cells and organisms develop.

"The discoveries of Gurdon and Yamanaka have shown that specialized cells can turn back the developmental clock under certain circumstances.

"These discoveries have also provided new tools for scientists around the world and led to remarkable progress in many areas of medicine."

Prof Yamanaka said it was a "tremendous honour" to be given the award. He also praised Prof Gurdon: "I am able to receive this award because of John Gurdon.

"This field has a very long history, starting with John Gurdon."

Medicine

It is hoped the techniques will revolutionise medicine by using a sample of person's skin to create stem cells.

The idea is that they could be used to repair the heart after a heart attack or reverse the progress of Alzheimer's disease.

Prof Gurdon, now at the Gurdon Institute at Cambridge University, described his research as: "Trying to find ways of obtaining embryo cells from the cells of an adult.

"The eventual aim is to provide replacement cells of all kinds starting from usually obtainable cells of an adult individual.

"For example, we would like to be able to find a way of obtaining spare heart or brain cells from skin or blood cells."

Prof Yamanaka, who started his career as a surgeon, said: "My goal, all my life, is to bring this stem cell technology to the bedside, to patients, to clinic."

Prof Anthony Hollander, the head of cellular and molecular medicine at the University of Bristol, said: "This joint Nobel Prize traces and celebrates the wonderful scientific journey from John Gurdon's pioneering early work to the sensational discovery of somatic cell reprogramming by Shinya Yamanaka.

"It's fantastic news for stem cell research."

Two stem cells complete the process of mitosis. Photograph: 

David Scharf/ Science Faction/Corbis

Related Articles:

Nobel prize won by Briton written off in his teens by a science teacher

Look, no embryos! The future of ethical stem cells

Life created from eggs made from skin cells

"Recalibration of Knowledge" – Jan 14, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator, Benevolent Design, New Energy, Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Reincarnation, Gaia, Old Energies (Africa,Terrorists, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela ... ), Weather, Rejuvenation, Akash, Nicolas Tesla / Einstein, Cold Fusion, Magnetics, Lemuria, Atomic Structure (Electrons, Particles, Polarity, Self Balancing, Magnetism, Higgs Boson), Entanglement, "Life is necessary for a Universe to exist and not the other way around", DNA, Humans (Baby getting ready, First Breath, Stem Cells, Embryonic Stem Cells, Rejuvenation), Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text Version)

”… There are several things that are going to happen in mainstream science. First, you're going to find some secrets of DNA and they're going to be embryonic. Start watching scientists discover the embryonic cells and the magic within them. You already know that unusual stem cells exist in the placenta. You also know that the pre-programmed adult stem cells are still there in the body. But what about the DNA of the unborn? (Intellectuals, please keep reading, for to stop now will create unrest.) Second, your work today Yawee, will represent "the perfect template" without using what you did in Lemuria. That's why you're the Human who will do this. It's an extension of why you came here, and is perfect for 2012 and beyond.

These embryonic cells of the unborn are untouchable by society, and they might as well be on Mars, for no science is going to try to use these cells in a 3D manner, which is all you know how to do at this point. If they try, it won't work anyway. There are quantum processes you are learning about that are not only non-invasive, but actually helpful and that can transfer attributes from one biological cell to another and from one Human to another. Think "wireless" [Kryon human again]. What you thought would take wires over 1,000 miles long is now done with satellites. It's an analogy that shows you that you are moving into totally new understandings of the transfer of energy. Let's discuss the mother in that temple for a moment. …”