clipped from www.telegraph.co.uk

A new scientific study has uncovered the secret of eternal youth. Roger Highfield reports.

The secret of eternal youth, at least at the cellular level, has been uncovered by scientists.

The work is of fundamental importance for understanding the self renewing properties of embryonic stem cells, "parent cells" in the early embryo that have the potential to turn into more than 200 specialised cell types, which are being studied by many groups worldwide as the basis of new treatments for a vast range of conditions, from Parkinson's Disease to stroke.

The new work focuses on a special property of stem cells from the early embryo: they grow indefinitely in the laboratory, so that one embryo could in theory provide cells to treat generations of patients.

"The discovery has major implications for large scale production of specialized cells, such as brain, heart muscle and insulin producing cells, for future therapeutic use."