title: Progress in studies on the induction and differentiation of embryonic stem cells.
abstract: Embryonic stem cells (ESCs), which are isolated from the inner cell mass of the blastocyst stage embryo, have the potential to give rise to an entire organism and to generate every body cell type. Much improvement has been made in the field of induction and differentiation of ESCs during the last two years, such as the ESCs differentiation into germ cells (2003) and the cloning of human ESCs (2004), both of which were chosen respectively as one of the top ten achievements evaluated by academic journals. Great attention was also paid to the research of the new genes which could maintain ESCs in the undifferentiated state and the research of the induction and differentiation of ESCs.
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Institute of Blood Transfusion, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100850, China.
authors.forename: Yinxiang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Daqing
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Xuetao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Pei
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000941:ethics / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans