On September 12, 2014, researchers at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Japan surgically transplanted into the eye of a woman a sheet of retinal pigment cells made from her own skin. This marks the first time stem cells from a person’s own body have been induced to become retinal cells and implanted into a human. Lead researcher Masayo Takahashi hopes these “induced pluripotent stem cells” will be a safer and more effective procedure than using stem cells created from a borrowed embryo. More about current stem cell research.
