Stem cell "major discovery" claimed

It's being heralded as a major scientific discovery.....that has the potential to begin a new age of personalised medicine.

Scientists here in Japan have shown that stem cells can now be made quickly just by dipping blood cells into acid.

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.

Scientists then injected the cells into mouse embryos, showing that they could grow into tissues and organs.

Dr Haruko Obokata, from the Riken Centre for Developmental Biology in Japan, calls them Stap cells.

(SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) LEADER OF RIKEN CENTRE FOR DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY RESEARCH TEAM, HARUKO OBOKATA, SAYING:

"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."