On 28 November, Dr Paul Fairchild, Co-Director of the Oxford Stem Cell Institute, spoke to ABC Radio Australia about his work on embryonic stem cells. The discussion covered topics such as how to prevent the rejection of cells and tissues derived from embryonic stem cells (a major barrier to regenerative medicine) and exciting developments in the field of induced pluripotency. Speaking about induced pluripotency, Dr Fairchild said:
"What this means is that we can now take just a few cells from a patient, somebody who requires cell replacement therapy to cure their disease, and we can then transform those cells back to a state as though they were embryonic stem cells, and that means that they then become pluripotent, it means they can make any cell type in the body. … And then of course we can reimplant those back into the patient. They won't be recognised as foreign because they came from the patient themselves. And so that is a very powerful way of (potentially at least) curing disease."
You can listen to the full interview on the ABC Radio Australia site.