As the battle to create therapeutic stem-cell lines intensifies, Japan is waking up to the fact that the United States could steal a march on it by being the first to commercialize induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell technology.rnShinya Yamanaka and his colleagues at Kyoto University pioneered the creation of iPS cells, and the technology is seen as something of a national industry - albeit one in its extreme infancy. Like embryonic stem (ES) cells, human iPS cells have the potential to develop into any of the body's cell types, and are expected to have tremendous value in drug screening and for therapeutic purposes. They are easier to produce than ES cells and are not associated with the same controversial source - iPS cells can be derived from adult cells rather than embryonic cells.
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