Research advances in induced pluripotent stem cells

Differentiated somatic cells can be directly reprogrammed into induced pluripotent stem(iPS) cells in vitro.Similarly to embryonic stem(ES) cells,iPS cells have pluripotency to differentiate into all cell types and capability to self-renew themselves indefinitely.Without immune rejection and ethical issues,patient-specific iPS cells promise to be an ideal tool for regenerative medicine,drug screening,and toxicity testing.