Reversing Cell Division

This is a Slashdot article from April 13, 2006:

Science: Cell Division Reversed for the First Time
Posted by samzenpus on Thursday April 13, @01:58AM
from the two-in-one dept.
Biotech
SubtleGuest writes "Gary J. Gorbsky, Ph.D., a scientist with the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, has found a way to reverse the process of cell division. The discovery could have important implications for the treatment of cancer, birth defects and numerous other diseases and disorders. Gorbsky's findings appear in the April 13 issue of the journal Nature. "No one has gotten the cell cycle to go backwards before now," said Gorbsky. "This shows that certain events in the cell cycle that have long been assumed irreversible may, in fact, be reversible." In the lab, Gorbsky and his OMRF colleagues were able to control the protein responsible for the division process, interrupt and reverse the event, sending duplicate chromosomes back to the center of the original cell, an event once thought impossible. Here is a video of it happening."

Main site: slashdot.org...

Article Links:
www.eurekalert.org...
www.nature.com...
Video: www.nature.com...

Looks promising to me. Tell me what you think.

Thats amazing, I cant even think of the things this could do.. Something like this could effect everything from cloning, to plant growth probably. Maybe even a way to stop the aging process eventually.

I imagine this: They work you all the way back from where you are to a single cell and then it splits into egg and sperm.

You fly off and tell all the other spirits, "I just had the strangest experience!"

The implications for treating cancer are staggering. Immediately after a tumor is detected, its growth could be halted completely. No need for chemo. Just cut it out. Or, if it were small enough and relatively unintrusive in its location, leave it in... if it can't grow and spread, it can't hurt anything.

It doesn't merge cells together, its reversing portions of the cell cycle.

Fascinating nonetheless.