Roots of a Breakthrough

Shoukhrat Mitalipov In the News

A six-year chain of discovery at OHSU led to the recent breakthrough by Shoukhrat Mitalipov, Ph.D. The Mitalipov lab has a stellar track record of scientific advances: 


Mitalipov’s team at OHSU is the first to successfully demonstrate the somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) method to create stem cells from the cells of a non-human primate. Time magazine called it one of the top 10 advancements of the year. 


Mitalipov’s team reports the live births of two healthy monkey babies with donor mitochondria. The breakthrough is hailed as heralding the first real possibility of preventing mitochondrial diseases. 


The team uses donor mitochondria to replace defective mitochondria in a human egg, a technique that could one day prevent deadly hereditary disorders from being passed down from mother to child. 


Mitalipov and Paula Amato, M.D., become the first team in the world to successfully convert human skin cells into embryonic stem cells. Harvard University stem cell expert George Daley , M.D., Ph.D., tells Science News: “This is a huge, landmark achievement.”