A German company called Blasticon has challenged the completestem cell therapy fraternity by offering an alternative patented technology bywhich white blood cells (WBCs) are extracted from veins and turned into cellswith programmable properties just like those found in stem cells.

Fred Fändrich, Founder of Blasticon and Director ofSchleswig-Holstein University's clinic for thoracic and general surgery explainswhat they have achieved by following a two stage process. In the first stage,they work on mononuclear cells extracted from blood. This followed by thesecond stage in which these cells are "reprogrammed" to the requiredtarget cells. The target cells can be heart cells, liver cells, muscle cells oreven something more ‘exotic’ like pancreatic islets.

This technology could have many therapeutic applications.Right from replacing damaged or defective cells in any part of the human body,to regenerating missing cells, to even manufacturing "control" cellsthat regulate our immune system. This technology can also be safely used fortreating autoimmune diseases and in transplant medicine.

The company couldn't have timed their announcement better. Thedeclaration has come at the most opportunistic time when German Parliament'sLower House viz., Bundestag is going to vote for an amendment to Germany's StemCell Act. The political parties in the debate couldn't have been any furtherapart. Those in favour want a total free hand for stem cell research. But thoseagainst it want a complete ban on using human stem cells. And then there isChurch and pro-life groups who are in support of banning all kinds of stem cellresearch.