Scientists in Wisconsin and Japan have recently announced success in "reprogramming" human skin cells to become pluripotent stem cells that have or mimic the therapeutic potential of embryo-derived stem cells. This scientific breakthrough has been hailed as a huge advance, one that will provide a technical fix to the ethical problems associated with existing methods of deriving human embryonic stem cells.

This seminar will explain the new technique, the scientific hurdles still to be overcome, and the political and ethical implications for stem cell research.