Japan makes breakthrough in regenerative medicine

A group of Japanese surgeons led by Masaya Nakamura professor in the department of orthopedic surgery at Keio University and a member of an elite group of scientists and doctors may have made a breakthrough in the field of “regenerative” medicine.

These researchers believe the lives of patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease, heart failure, blindness, paralysis and other debilitating health problems could be transformed using “induced pluripotent” stem cells, or iPS cells.

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Nakamura says iPS cells could hold the key to curing people. “No matter how good a surgeon I am, I cannot cure spinal cord injuries,” he said. “That’s why we do basic research” into iPS cells.

Discovered in 2006 by Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University, iPS cell technology “reprograms” old cells, returning them to a state similar to those found in embryos — essentially turning back the clock on mature cells.

Japan has remained the world leader in iPS cell research since the discovery, thanks in part to an injection of about $1 billion over 10 years from the government after Yamanaka was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2012.

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