Sheng Ding, of the Scripps Research Institute, is working on identifying which genes are involved in reprogrammingcells and what medicines might turn on those genes.
Then came a breakthrough in 2007, when Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University succeeded in reprogramming adult skin cells back to their embryonic state simply by dousing them in a concoction of four genetic factors and some growth media.
The genetic approach to reprogramming, pioneered by Shinya Yamanaka who won the 2012 Nobel Prize in medicine for his work, allows human cells to be transformed back into an embryonic-like, pluripotent state.