University of Toronto and the Hospital for Sick Children Create Lung Cells with Stem Cells

Researchers led by Janet Rossant at the University of Toronto and the Hospital for Sick Children have reprogrammed cystic fibrosis patients’ skin samples into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells that were then differentiated into mature lung cells. Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease that involves a mutation of the CFTR gene. By creating patient-specific stem cells that express the mutation, the researchers were able to test a compound to affect the expression of the CFTR gene. This research may lead to “clinical trials in a dish” to test drugs and to patient-specific treatments for cystic fibrosis. The full study is published in Nature Genetics.

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