Twenty-five years ago: The production of mouse embryonic stem cells

Michel Morange (1)

1 IHPST - Institut d'Histoire et de Philosophie des Sciences et des Techniques

My aim here is to recall the long and tortuous path which led from observations on a specific - and rare - kind of tumour, a teratoma, to the development of human ES cells. The objective is not only to revisit a neglected chapter of the history of modern biology. It is also to explain why it took so long to recognize the value of ES cells for the future of medicine. I hope too that it will help to temper the enthusiasm surrounding present research, and show that some of the difficulties encountered today (Vogel 2000) were already familiar to biologists twenty years ago.

Mots clés: Cancer; cloning; regenerative medicine; stem cell; teratoma

Domaines: Histoire, Philosophie et Sociologie des sciences

Michel Morange. Twenty-five years ago: The production of mouse embryonic stem cells. Journal of Biosciences, 2006, 31 (5), pp.537-541. ⟨halshs-00791755⟩