Scientists managed to turn mouse pancreas tissue into specialized cells which produce insulin. Lead researcher Qiao Zhou of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and his colleagues have managed to give a significant boost to an area of medicine called regenerative medicine, which focuses on using a patient's own cells to repair damage in other tissues.

The three-year study consisted of infecting the pancreases of dozens of 2-month-old mice with a virus that contained three genes active in insulin-producing beta cells. The viral infection with the special genes has turned 20 percent of pancreas cells into beta cells, an unexpectedly high rate.

Cell reprogramming is very promising because it can offer the same benefits of classic stem cell therapy, with none of the associated moral issues. Because extracting stem cells usually involves killing human embryos, it is opposed by most religious groups.

The new research is especially important because of its highly positive outcome. Not only the percentage of cells which "turned" was hundreds of times higher than in previous studies, but also the transformation took a very short time, only three days. Diabetics which suffer from the type 2 diabetes lack these beta cells and are unable to produce the necessary insulin for the metabolization of sugar.

The results may well apply to other tissues. The highly positive results will certainly trigger a wave of similar experiments, which will help advance the newly created field of regenerative medicine. However, experiments on humans are at least a decade away.