More Progress on Cell Reversion

Scientists continue to make headway on the goal of reverting adult cells back to an embryonic stem cell state. From the story:

Their procedure makes ordinary skin cells behave like stem cells. If the same can be done with human cells – a big if – the procedure could lead to breakthrough medical treatments without the contentious ethical and political debates surrounding the use of embryos.

This work is still in mice, and as a scientist makes clear in the story, there is still a very long way to go. But if this works, if the benefits touted for embryonic stem cells are found to be obtainable from ordinary skin cells—credit President George W. Bush’s ESCR federal funding policy, which created an incentive for scientists to find alternatives to ESCR.