Britain's John Gurdon, left, and Japan's Shinya Yamanaka, right, today won the Nobel Prize for their pioneering work in stem cell research.
This morning, two pioneering stem cell researchers — John Gurdon of Great Britain and Shinya Yamanaka of Japan — received the highest honor that scientists can achieve: the Nobel Prize. While Gurdon’s research stemmed from work in the 1960s, Yamanaka emerged as a world-class scientist only in the past six years. Regardless of when the research was accomplished, both have contributed immensely to how we understand human development and stem cell research.
Gurdon, researcher at the Gurdon Institute in Cambridge, discovered in 1962 that specialized cells can be reprogrammed to a more immature state. In his landmark experiment, he was able to replace the DNA in a frog egg with DNA from a more mature cell (from the intestine), and coax the egg into growing into a normal tadpole, then a frog. This revolutionized medical research, which until then had operated under the assumption that mature cells did not contain the DNA necessary to become other specialized cells.
More than 40 years later, Shinya Yamanaka, a professor at Kyoto University in Japan and an investigator at the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco, demonstrated to the scientific world that only four genes were necessary to reprogram a normal cell into a more immature cell with embryonic-like qualities. The new cells — known as induced-pluripotent stem cells — were highlighted across the world as an alternative to the more controversial embryonic stem cells, which require the use of five- to six-day-old fertilized eggs. While Yamanaka’s research did not eliminate the need for research on other forms of stem cells, it did give scientists the ability to create lines with specific genetic backgrounds, such as mutations that cause diseases. It also allowed scientists to study the process of early human differentiation — how we go from being one cell to millions.
Gurdon and Yamanaka’s work has helped scientists understand early human development and, more recently, to understand disease progression. Yamanaka’s research also opened the door to regenerative medicine — the “process of replacing or regenerating human cells, tissues, or organs to restore or establish normal function.” Doctors and scientists have great hope for the potential of induced pluripotent stem cells, as well as other forms of stem cells, to help replace diseased cells and tissues. This could help individuals suffering with chronic and debilitating diseases such as juvenile diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and spinal cord injuries.
In 2007, Martin Evans was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work discovering and isolating the mouse embryonic stem cell. In 2010, the Nobel committee honored Robert Edwards for the development of in vitro fertilization (IVF). This year, the committee honored Gurdon and Yamanaka for helping scientists further understand human development and an area of research that has many doctors and patients excited about the future of medicine. But with this award also comes increased expectation that stem cell research and regenerative medicine will live up to the hype and help provide cures and treatments. Only time will tell if this is truly the new direction of medicine, or just science fiction.
Kirstin Matthews, Ph.D., is a fellow in science and technology policy at the Baker Institute. Her research focuses on the intersection between traditional biomedical research and public policy. Matthews’ current projects include the Baker Institute International Stem Cell Policy Program, the Civic Scientist Lecture Series and policy studies in research and development funding, genomics and climate change.