Mouse Study Transforms Skin Cells Into Mature Liver Cells

A California study has resulted in a medical breakthrough for patients wait-listed for liver transplants. Researchers from the Gladstone Institutes and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) were able to overcome a past hurdle in regenerative medicine by creating cells that were fully mature, according to ScienceDaily. The scientists used a novel cellular reprogramming technique to transform skin cells into liver cells that were fully functioning even after they were transplanted to animals modified to have the characteristics of liver failure. Their findings suggested that the new liver cells were indistinguishable from cells in existing liver tissue.