January 24, 2002

• Special Report: Turnaround - The neighborhood is looking good
  Six years after Penn refocused its attention on its home neighborhood, the Current takes a look at Penn's investments and how the neighborhood has changed.
• Universities take on the role of redevelopers
• Little scholars from near and far
• Business success means streets are jumping
• Penn's "greene countrie towne"
• It took a community and the University to raise a neighborhood
• Get to know the neighbors

• Protein fights nerve loss
• Science, media and ethics contend
• New one-on-one coaching

• Research: Do ads get teens to just say no?
• Staff Q&A: By night, Ron Washington cleans the halls of Leidy Labs. But let us tell you about his day job.

• Ask Benny: A new column answers your Penn questions
• Of mice, men and embryonic stem cells
• Human nature takes a walk
• Defend yourself
• Courses for a better you

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• Editor's Pick: A documentary revolution
• The dream lives on
• Kids' festival: In the market for fun
• People's Choice: Resolutions come and go; food serves keep serving

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STEM CELL RESEARCH/Penn researchers may have found a way to create stem cells without using embryos.

Of mice, men and embryonic stem cells

BY TRINH TRAN

Stem cells are valuable because they have the potential to form a number of different tissues and consequently be used to treat various conditions, such as generating new nerve cells for spinal cord injuries.

While stem cells are located throughout the body, embryonic stem cells have a greater potential for generating different cell types than adult stem cells. But embryonic stem cell research poses an ethical dilemma because the cells are obtained through the destruction of human embryos, which some view as human life.

The discovery of GCNF may help resolve this ethical debate. In experiments involving mice, Schöler, who is from the school of Veterinary Medicine, found that GCNF plays a key role in restricting embryonic stem cells’ pluripotency or their ability to develop into many different adult cell types. If researchers can learn how GCNF shuts down genes, then they can also possibly discover how to reverse that process, thereby regaining pluripotency.

The aim, Schöler said, is to learn how to turn back the clock on cellular development, to convert ordinary adult stem cells back into embryonic stem cells.

Schöler stresses that while GCNF successfully removes pluripotency, it is only one of several mechanisms, the others still unknown, that do so.

Still, GCNF’s effects are considerable. It has the ability to repress Oct4, the only known gene that is essential for pluripotency.

“GCNF is part of a machinery that sets a mark,” said Schöler. “Since we know what kind of mark it’s setting, we can erase this memory which will help push back the cells.”

That Schöler’s research may help quiet the ethical debates is clear.

“You’re not destroying embryos. That’s the most important issue,” he said. “You are taking cells from your own body [and] putting them back [into an embryonic stem cell state]. This would not be generating embryos at any stage. People know that it’s not possible to generate embryos from embryonic stem cells.”

Still, Schöler is not immune to the controversy. His research is currently limited to mice.

“We’re not very happy about this situation because you are developing something in the mouse, [which is], OK, great for the mouse, but you really want to have something which is beneficial for humans,” he said. “I feel like for the first time in my life I can do something for humans.”