so many jokes, so much self restraint
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-04-01T201200Z_01_N01175408_RTRUKOC_0_US-SCIENCE-CELLS.xml&archived=FalseWASHINGTON (Reuters) - US researchers said on Saturday they had transformed immature cells from men's testicles into powerful stem cells, which they then coaxed into becoming nerve, heart and bone cells.
Their work has not been assessed by standard peer-review processes, but was presented at a meeting of stem cell researchers in Valencia, Spain. If other researchers can duplicate their efforts, the study offers a possible new source of valuable stem cells.
The researchers, at Irvine, California-based PrimeGen Biotech LLC, worked with immature cells found in testes and ovaries known as germ cells. Scientists have hoped to use germ cells as a source of tissues for transplant and other medical uses.
snip
"Germ cells isolated from adult human testis can be therapeutically reprogrammed to have the ability to differentiate into cells that can be used therapeutically for cell-based regenerative medicine," they wrote for a presentation at the meeting in Spain.
"We've already been able to reproducibly differentiate heart, brain, bone and cartilage cells, and we are excited to begin testing how these cells incorporate into tissues," Silva said in a statement.
seriously, this has some real hope.