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WASHINGTON (BP) -- A Japanese researcher who discovered a way to produce stem cells that act like embryonic ones without their lethal consequences has won a Nobel Prize. "I thought, we can't keep destroying embryos for our research. There must be another way." -- Shinya Yamanaka The Nobel Foundation awarded its 2012 prize in physiology or medicine to Shinya Yamanaka, who was able to reprogram adult skin cells into cells that have virtually the identical properties of embryonic ones, which have the ability to change into any cell or tissue in the body. In the Oct. 8 announcement, Yamanaka, 50, shared the Nobel Prize with British scientist John Gurdon, 79, whose work in 1962 paved the way for the Japanese researcher's breakthrough.

Unlike embryonic stem cells, reprogrammed cells -- also known as induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells - do not cause harm to a donor. The extraction of embryonic stem cells, however, results in the destruction of a days-old human embryo.

The "life" issue also was a theme in the awarding of this year's Nobel Prize for literature. Chinese writer Mo Yan, a critic of his country's coercive population control policy, received the award Oct. 11 from the Nobel Foundation, which is based in Stockholm, Sweden.

Yan's most recent novel, "Wa," "illuminates the consequences of China's imposition of a single-child policy," according to the Nobel news release.

Yamanaka, the Nobel physiology/medicine winner who teaches at Kyoto University in Japan, was motivated in his search for a safe way to produce embryonic-like cells by a look through a microscope at a human embryo stored at a fertility clinic in the late 1990s.

"When I saw the embryo, I suddenly realized there was such a small difference between it and my daughters," Yamanaka told The New York Times in 2007. "I thought, we can't keep destroying embryos for our research. There must be another way."

In 2006, he found a way to induce adult cells to take on embryonic-like, or "pluripotent," qualities. Embryonic stem cells are considered "pluripotent," meaning they can develop into all of the different cell types in the body. Adult stem cells typically have been regarded as "multipotent," meaning they can form many, though not all, of the body's cell types. Yamanaka's work showed adult cells could become "pluripotent" and thereby avoid the ethical problems with embryonic stem cells.

Pro-life bioethics specialist Wesley Smith lauded the Nobel Foundation's decision to reward Yamanaka, writing on his blog, "This is so deserved!"

"Bravo Dr. Yamanaka! You proved that good ethics leads to splendid science," Smith said.

The ability of stem cells to convert to other cells and tissues has provided great hope for developing cures for various diseases. Embryonic stem cell research has yet to provide any treatments for human beings and has been plagued by tumors in lab animals, however. Reprogrammed, or iPS, cells have demonstrated promising results but have not been used in human trials.

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