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On March 1, 2009, researchers announced they had finally found a way to eventually eliminate the need for human embryos for stem cell research, replacing them with the process of transforming ordinary skin cells into powerful stem cells. This is a landmark in healthcare along with President Obama opening the doors to stem cell research with Federal funding, considered to be the very first time that scientists have turned ordinary skin cells into "induced pluripotent stem cells" or iPS cells. For those who are against stem cell research because of human cloning possibilities, it is like apples and oranges…both fruits but entirely different types.

The iPS cells not only look like embryonic stem cells, but also act like them while eliminating the use of viruses in the entire process. Stem cells are considered the master cells of the body which produce tissues and organs. This new iPS cell method allows for their development, with genes being able to become inserted in order to trigger the cell reprogramming. The difference is that they than be removed afterword.

Mimicking the embryonic stem cells, iPS cells will have the potential to develop into any tissue type, they will copy a cell which is considered the most powerful kind of cell there is. Not a new process, the transfer of ordinary skin cells into iPS cells has been going on for awhile by simply using a handful of genes but the use of viruses was required, integrating their own type of genetic material into the cells they infect which has the ability to cause cancer.

Two teams of researchers from Britain and Canada have provided an alternative approach, which would eliminate this risk of developing abnormalities.  Published in the online edition of the NATURE journal, this process is referred to as the "piggyBac". The researchers had harnessed a transposon—a small piece of DNA which was also referred to as the jumping gene, carrying four genes—and could move around inside the genetic code.

Researchers Keisuke Kaji from the Edinburgh Medical Research Council (MRC) Center and Andras Nagy from the University of Toronto have successfully used this technique not only in mice but human skin cells, finding that the reprogrammed cells behave identically as the embryonic stem cells. Dolly's developer, Ian Wilmut who is head of the MRC center, said this new technique was a major step forward but would take some time before the new iPS cells could be given to patients for the treatment of spinal cord injuries, cancer, diabetes, and Parkison's.