Scientists Convert Skin Cells into Blood Cells

Turning Skin Cells into Blood Cells?

In a new study (published yesterday in the journal Nature), researchers from McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada have discovered how to convert human skin cells into human blood cells.

Building upon previous research where fibroblast cells taken from mouse skin were converted into neurons and heart muscle, this study is the first to transform human skin cells into human progenitor cells – in this case progenitor blood cells.

Needless to say, this is huge news in the medical community.

It means that in the relatively near future, patients in need of blood transfusions may be able to grow their own blood.

[box]It may also signal the end of the moral/ethical debate over stem cell research.Because if science can convert human skin into human blood, how long will it be before they can convert your skin into a perfect copy of your own muscle or nerves or neurons or pancreatic cells or bone marrow or….?.[/box]