The Harvard University biologists have turned cells from mouse pancreas tissue into insulin-producing ones that are destroyed in diabetes, The New York Times reported.

The study, conducted by Douglas A. Melton and Qiao Zhou of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, insinuates that the obstacles between the body’s cell types may not be as unassailable as experts believed.

The transformed cells, which produce insulin, are similar to beta cells and stop creating proteins characteristic to exocrine cells.

Researchers who didn’t participate in the study were all surprised by the progress. "I'm stunned," stated Robert Lanza, Chief Scientific Officer at Advanced Cell Technology, and Adjunct Professor at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. "It introduces a whole new paradigm for treating disease," he added.

"It's kind of an extreme makeover of a cell," Melton said. "The goal is to create cells that are missing or defective in people. It's very exciting."

In the three years of follow-up, the team of researchers turned dozens of mice into Type 1 diabetics by infecting their pancreases with a virus that specifically infects pancreatic exocrine cells. More than 20 percent of the contaminated cells were converted into beta cells. The process was much more satisfying compared to the results of previous efforts to do such a transformation.

Scientists who carried out the mice study hope the discovery will make possible a cure for type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

The findings were published in the online Aug. 27 issue of the journal Nature.