Japan stem-cell trial stirs envy
Researchers elsewhere can’t wait to test iPS cells in humans.

“It’s awesome, it’s amazing, I’m thrilled, I’ve been waiting for this,” says Jeanne Loring, a stem-cell biologist at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. She is one of several researchers around the world to welcome the news that a Japanese woman with visual impairment had become the first person to receive a therapy derived from stem cells known as induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells.

A lot rides on this trial. If the procedure proves safe, it could soften the stance of regulatory bodies in other nations towards human trials of iPS cells, and it could pave the way for treatments for other conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease and diabetes. It could also cement Japan, recently plagued by a stem-cell scandal, as a frontrunner in iPS-cell research.


http://www.nature.com/news/japan-ste...s-envy-1.15935