A timeline of stem cells

Written by Alexandra Thompson
News Spotlight on iPSC production

What are the most significant developments in stem cells since 2006?

The Total Biopharma team have posted a timeline of significant developments in stem cells since from 2006 to date, which I have summarised below.

What would you add to the timeline — what would you consider the most significant developments in stem cells since 2006? Make a compelling case in the comments section below and I will add to the timeline!

2006:

  • Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University, Japan, generates induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) for the first time

2007:

  • Mario Capecchi, Martin Evans and Oliver Smithies win the Nobel Prize for Physiology for Medicine for discovery of embryonic stem cells (ESCs)
  • Dr John Dick first identified human colon cancer stem cells

2008:

  • Sam Weiss is awarded the Gairdner Prize for the discovery of neural stem cells in the brains of adult mammals

2009:

  • President Obama lifts the 2001 restrictions on federal funding for human ESC research put in place by President George Bush Jr in 2001

2010:

  • First clinical trial of human embryonic-derived stem cells for treatment of spinal cord injury

2011:

  • Pope Benedict XVI hails potential of adult stem cell research as the Vatican invests in new stem cell research

2012:

  • Blindness eased by historic stem cell treatment: human ESCs first show medical promise
  • Shinya Yamanaka and John Gurdon win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for creating iPSCs

2013:

  • Shoukhrat Mitalipov and colleagues produce human ESCs from fetal cells using therapeutic cloning (Dolly technique)
  • Scientists in Japan grow a human liver tissue from stem cells, holding promise for organ donation
  • World’s first test-tube burger made from cow stem cells

2014:

  • Team at Riken Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe, Japan, announce revolutionary reprogramming technique that was not reproducible and considered falsified
  • Masayo Takahashi at RIKEN centre embarked the world’s first trial of a therapy based on iPSCs, to treat a form of age-related blindness.

See the original Total Biopharma article here.