"The Developmental Capacity of Nuclei Taken from Intestinal Epithelium Cells of Feeding Tadpoles" (1962), by John B. Gurdon

In 1962 researcher John Bertrand Gurdon at the University of Oxford [3] in Oxford, England conducted a series of experiments on the developmental capacity of nuclei taken from intestinal epithelium [4] cells of feeding tadpoles. In the experiments, Gurdon conducted nuclear transplantation, or cloning [5], of differentiated cells, or cells that have already specialized to become one cell type or another, in tadpoles. Gurdon's experiment showed that differentiated adult cells could be induced to an undifferentiated state, where they could once again become multiple cell types. Gurdon's experiment disproved the theory that differentiated cells could not be undifferentiated or dedifferentiated into a new type of differentiated cell. Gurdon's experiment demonstrated nuclear transplantation [6], also called cloning [5], using differentiated cells.