Cell biology

Today President Obama will lift restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research imposed by the Bush Administration. The Takeaway will discuss what the change in policy will mean for the future of this promising area of medicine.

When a 2001 federal funding freeze crippled research into the use of embryonic stem cells to treat medical conditions, molecular biologists began searching for alternatives. Now, they may have found one: By reprogramming adult skin cells, researchers have produced stem cells, but in recent studies, the cells produced tumors in mice.

Doctors in Spain said today they’ve accomplished something unprecedented. They removed the windpipe of a woman with respiratory disease and replaced it with a new airway created, in part, in the laboratory. The World’s Gerry Hadden has the story.

In Zimbabwe, the water taps are dry. The country’s water system is old and broken. Many Zimbabweans are forced to dig their own wells and use water that’s not clean. That’s exposing people to disease. We have this report from Harare.

The World’s Clark Boyd reports that two teams of scientists have announced that they have turned human skin cells into stem cells — without destroying an embryo in the process. The announcement is a breakthrough for a field of research that has been stalled by ethical, political and practical concerns.