Access

News and Views

Nature Cell Biology 8, 1048–1049 (1 October 2006) | doi:10.1038/ncb1006-1048

Uncovering stemness

M|[eacute]|lanie Bilodeau & Guy Sauvageau

For years, many predicted that understanding the properties of murine and human embryonic stem cells (mES and hES cells, respectively) could lead to the design of cell replacement therapies. Using a list of candidate factors, Takahashi and Yamanaka show that a specific combination of only four factors allows the generation of pluripotent stem cells from mouse adult fibroblast cultures, avoiding the controversial need for deriving them from an embryo.