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POPSNew way to make stem cells is safe Hochedlinger's team used a much more harmless virus, called an adenovirus, to carry into the cells the four transformative genes, called Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and c-Myc. They used mouse skin cells and also liver cells from fetal mice and got both types to look and act like iPS cells As the cells divide, they dilute the virus until it disappears, he said. But the genetic changes remain. To test the cells they made chimeras --- a blend of two separate animals. They injected their newly made cells into mouse embryos and when the pups were born, they carried visible evidence that the cells had indeed transformed them And so far, these chimeric mice have not developed any tumors If it works, some day doctors may be able to make tailor-made transplants to treat diseases in people by removing a few cells, transforming them in the lab and transplanting the new tissue or organs back in
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POPSCan Centaurs and Talking Pigs Be Far Behind? In 2003, Panayiotis Zavos created "human cow" embryos that lived for several days and, theoretically, could have been implanted into a woman's womb. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota have produced pigs with hybrid pig-human blood cells