It's being heralded as a major scientific discovery.....that has the potential to begin a new age of personalised medicine.<br/> <br />Scientists here in Japan have shown that stem cells can now be made quickly just by dipping blood cells into acid.<br/> <br />In a series of experiments, researchers show that cells plucked from animals can be turned into master cells simply by immersing them for half an hour.<br/> <br />Scientists then injected the cells into mouse embryos, showing that they could grow into tissues and organs.<br/> <br />Dr Haruko Obokata, from the Riken Centre for Developmental Biology in Japan, calls them Stap cells.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) LEADER OF RIKEN CENTRE FOR DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY RESEARCH TEAM, HARUKO OBOKATA, SAYING:<br/> <br />"Nobody believed me when I told them what I'd found. So one time when I was lying awake in bed at night, I told myself that I'd scrap the experiment completely if I didn't get results the next day. Well that 'next day' sort of turned into five years."
