Final Report Summary - ROADTOIPS (Dissection of molecular signature transformation during the process of pluripotency induction)
However, this reprograming process is very inefficient, only 1 in 100 cells can be converted to iPSCs. The molecular mechanisms of this process is hardly known and it was also mystery if cells trace back how they became the specialized cells from the unspecialized cells or not during reprogramming. In this project we revealed that the reprogramming process is not the reversal of normal development. Specialized cells take distinct steps on the way back to an unspecialized pluripotent state. The reprogramming system we developed in this project has been further used to illuminate molecular mechanisms of reprogramming.