http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20100731p2a00m0na004000c.html

A research team at Keio University has applied to the university's ethics committee to produce human reproductive cells from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, it has been learned.

If the ethics committee approves the application, the research team will file a report to the government and begin working to produce the cells.

Government guidelines formulated in May lifted a ban on the creation of human reproductive cells from iPS cells and other pluripotent cells. If the research team gets the go-ahead, it will likely be a first for Japan.

Research into production of the cells is being jointly conducted by Hideyuki Okano, a professor in regenerative medicine at Keio University; Yuji Takehara, deputy director of Kato Ladies Clinic, which specializes in fertility treatment; and other researchers.

"We hope to shed light on the fundamental mechanisms by which life comes into existence," Okano said.

The team has already started research into creating sperm and ova of mice and marmosets (a type of monkey), using iPS cells. The latest research focuses on applying the same production methods to humans to uncover the fundamental mechanism of reproductive functions. However, even if sperm and ova are successfully produced, government guidelines ban fertilization.

It is technically difficult to produce reproductive cells from iPS cells and embryonic stem cells, and there have been no past cases in which researchers have been able to produce a complete mammal using the cells.

July 31, 2010 (Mainichi Japan)