Doug Melton on cell reprogramming

While I was there at the University of Illinois, I read probably a Scientific American article about cloning by John Gurdon in England, and I thought that was one of the coolest experiments I had ever read. It asked a simple question about whether the cells in our body retain all the DNA or they lose it during development. It was an elegant design, and cloning the frog showed that differentiated cells retain all the information to make a whole frog. And that really excited me about science. Some scientists don't find teaching to be a helpful or an interesting part of their job. I may be unusual in that I do. For me, when I give a course, be it on stem cells and cloning or development in general, to stand up in front of the undergraduates requires that I clarify my thinking and make sure that I try to see the big picture. And the big picture