Fruit-fly Study Adds Weight To Theories About Another Type Of Adult Stem Cell

It turns out that an old dog - or at least an old fruit-fly cell - can learn new tricks. Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have found that mature, specialized cells naturally regress to serve as a kind of de facto **stem cell** during the fruit-fly life cycle. The surprising discovery counters the common belief that the ability to form **new cell types** or tissues wanes as a cell becomes more specialized. "It was mind-boggling, because it went completely against what we had expected to see happening," said lead researcher Molly Weaver, PhD. Whole article on "sciencedaily":[ http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080731143333.htm]

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