NATIONAL NEWS: Turning back the biological clock

INSIDE: SCIENCE AND MEDICINE

By CLIVE COOKSON

Financial Times; Jun 15, 2001

Turning back the biological clock

Tristem, a biotechnology company with roots in Britain, Ireland and Saudi Arabia, yesterday unveiled a new technique for turning back the biological clock, by turning blood cells into immature stem cells. Ilham Abuljayadel, Tristem's chief scientist, describing the "retrodifferentiation" technology to a stem cells conference in London, said it turns mature blood cells into juvenile cells with the potential to differentiate into specialised tissues such as heart or skin.

Tristem is one of several biotechnology companies showing that stem cells are much easier to produce than scientists had realised. But it is not yet clear whether stem cells derived from adults will be as effective clinically as those taken from other sources such as embryos or foetal tissue. The first application of Tristem's research is likely to be in the treatment of leukaemia.