Stem cells research highs and lows - interactive timeline  In
1996 the future for stem cells research looked bright, but
fifteen years on its development has been fraught with troubles
• Jump to comments ()  In August 2006, two Japanese scientists,
Kazutoshi Takahashi and Shinya Yamanaka, published a remarkable
research paper. It described experiments in which skin cells
plucked from mice were reprogrammed into what looked for all the
world like embryonic stem cells. The implications of this
biological alchemy were not lost on others. Here was a way to
make pluripotent cells - those capable of growing into almost
any tissue in the body - without the restrictions and
controversy of harvesting them from embryos.  Since that day,
reprogrammed or induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells have
carried a weight of expectation. Scientists moved quickly to
reprogramme cells from patients with diseases as varied as
muscular dystrophy and diabetes. Turn the cells into muscle or
pancreatic tissue and they could watch the d