More secrets of Stem Cells Revealed

Shinya Yamanaka and John B Gurdon were awarded this year’s covetous Nobel Prize which fetched them jointly $1.2 million for their ground–breaking research which offers a new generation of therapies against several hard-to-treat diseases such as macular degeneration.
It is known that all of us have developed from fertilised eggs that come from our mothers. During the first few days after fertilisation of an egg, known as start of conception, the embryo is nothing but a group of few immature cells. Each of these cells is full of potential to make an adult body, which consists of myriad types of cells, each one having different functions to carry out in the body. These immature cells evolved during the first few days of conception are called pluripotent stem cells. Pluripotent literally means the potential to develop into all types of cells that a body needs.
  As the embryo develops these pluripotent cells give rise to different types of specialised cells like nerve cells, muscle cells, liver cells etc -- each of them specialised to carry out a specific task in the adult body.
This journey from immature to specialised cell was previously considered to be irreversible. It was thought that the cell changes in such a way during maturation that it would no longer be possible to return to the immature (pluripotent) stage.
  But researches of these two scientists have altered this thinking when they proved by their experiments that this biological journey from immaturity to specialisation is reversible. 
This basically has become possible through introduction a few genes in the mature cells. Shinya Yamanaka discovered these genes that can reverse this journey from maturity to immaturity, from single function capability to all-function capability. 
  The discovery, published in 2006, stunned the world of geneticists. But the foundation stone of this was laid by John B. Gurdon as long back as 1962. He first showed in a classic experiment that the specialisation of cells is reversible. He proved that the DNA of the mature cell retains all the information needed to develop all cell types. He showed this by his experiment on a frog.
  These groundbreaking discoveries have completely changed the traditional view of the embryo development. So the textbooks were rewritten and new research fields emerged. By introduction of a few genes to reprogramme a specialised cell, researchers have got a new method to study diseases and develop new methods for diagnosis and treatment.
  It is not necessary to take pluripotent stem cells from freshly developed embryo, which had become quite controversial. Now cells can be taken from any part of the body. For example, the skin: and they can be turned into a pluripotent cells by introduction of a few genes and desired type of tissues can be regenerated to replace the diseased ones.
  Interestingly the British scientist who made such a breakthrough discovery was told by his schoolmasters that he was too stupid to study biology. At the age of 15, he was ranked last out of 250 boys who were studying biology with him. Similar was his performance in other science subjects. Sir John Gurdon himself revealed this and told media that the relevant school report card has been kept on his desk in the Gurdon Institute at Cambridge.
  Shinya Yamanaka’s scientific journey too has its own peculiarity. He was initially trained as an orthopaedic surgeon, but later switched over to basic research. He astounded the world by making pluripotent cells from the skin of a mouse.  This research is now being used to regenerate retina to replace the damaged one to restore eye-sight.

Gurdon’s teacher had told he was too stupid to study biology

Gurdon’s teacher in Eton Mr Gaddum, basically a curator, but given the responsibility to teach science to the weakest students had written in his report card in June 1949 like this:
  “His work has been far from satisfactory. His prepared stuff has been badly learnt, and several of his test pieces have been torn over; one such piece of prepared work scored 2 marks out of a possible 50. His other work has been equally bad, and several times he has been in trouble, because he will not listen, but will insist on doing his work in his own way.
  I believe he has ideas about becoming a scientist; on his present showing this is quite ridiculous. If he can’t learn simple biological facts, he would have no chance of doing the work of a specialist, and it would be sheer waste of time, both on his part, and of those who have to teach him.” 
  But by the time he became a postgraduate student, he was able to announce his groundbreaking research proving for the first time that every cell in the body contains the same genes.  Senior scientists though were not willing to accept the new idea. It took a decade before it was accepted by the world of genetics when other scientists verified his claim. Later the concept was used in cloning of Dolly in 1996  by displaying human ingenuity to play God, which surprised the whole world.
  The example shows that some teachers do great harm to their pupils. John Gurdon was lucky, but many may not be. This is a general observation in India that most teachers discourage their students in numerous ways. It has been found that teachers themselves are not competent enough and they do so to hide their own incompetence.
  But, there is a long list of scientists, who had been dismissed as stupid and below average by their parents and teachers while they were young. A few of them figure in the list of the top–most scientists the world ever produced, like Charles Darwin who gave the theory of species, Thomas Edison who invented bulb and camera, Albert Einstein who gave the theory of relativity which revolutionised physics and Newton who first told the world why an apple always falls on the ground.