Scientists have been able to reprogram amniotic fluid cells into stem cells. Researchers in Berlin at the Max Planck institute were the people in this article who had devised a way to change the amniotic cells to resemble the pluripotent stem cells. The problem with the amniotic derived cells is that they have cell memory from where they came from, researchers are not sure if this will affect their usefulness in medical treatments if they are used. If these cells are viable then the benefit of being easily harvested and widely available. Also in amniotic fluid there are sometimes stem cells from the unborn child that are still present, which makes the conversion of amniotic cells to stem cell copies much quicker. Another positive of using amniotic cells would be the possible testing of tolerance of drugs by the unborn child before birth.
