Stem cell work wins Nobel prize

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A British and a Japanese scientist won the Nobel Prize for Medicine on Monday for work on creating stem cells, opening the door to new methods to diagnose and treat diseases.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) GORAN HANSSON, SECRETARY OF THE NOBEL COMMITTEE FOR PHYSIOLOGY OR MEDICINE SAYING:

"The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute has today decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012 jointly to John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent."

Briton John Gurdon and Japan's Shinya Yamanaka equally share the prize of 8 million crowns (US$ 1.2 million), Goran Hansson, the Secretary of the Nobel Committee that awards the prize, announced.

Hansson also said he had spoken to both laureates and that both had said they would come to Stockholm for the award ceremony on December 10.

According to the committee, Gurdon's and Yamanaka's "groundbreaking discoveries" had "completely changed our view of the development and specialisation of cells".

The discovery offered a new way to create stem cells with the ability to become different types of tissue by effectively turning back the clock on adult cells, restoring them to a so-called "pluripotent" state.