Nobel Prizes take pro-life turn
WASHINGTON (BP)A Japaneseresearcher who discovered a way to produce stem cells that act likeembryonic ones without their lethal consequences has won a Nobel Prize.
The Nobel Foundation awarded its 2012 prize in physiology or medicine to Shinya Yamanaka, who was able to reprogram adult skin cells into cells that have virtually the identical properties of embryonic ones, which have the ability to change into any cell or tissue in the body. In the Oct. 8 announcement, Yamanaka, 50, shared the Nobel Prize with British scientist John Gurdon, 79, whose work in 1962 paved the way for the Japanese researchers breakthrough.
Unlike embryonic stem cells,reprogrammed cellsalso known as induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cellsdo not cause harm to a donor. The extraction of embryonic stem cells, however, results in the destruction of a days-old human embryo.
The life issue also was a theme in the awarding of this years Nobel Prize for literature. Chinese writer Mo Yan, a critic of his countrys coercive population control policy, received the award Oct. 11 from the Nobel Foundation, which is based in Stockholm, Sweden.
Yans most recent novel, Wa, illuminates the consequences of Chinas imposition of a single-child policy, according to the Nobel news release.
Leave a Comment:
You must be login before you can leave a comment. Click here to Register if you are a new user.
See the original post:
Nobel Prizes take pro-life turn