- A new Nature paper, “Chemical reprogramming of human somatic cells to pluripotent stem cells” (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04593-5), was circulated as a potential replacement for the canonical Yamanaka-factor method.  
- Participants questioned the practical advantage of the chemical cocktail, noting that the abstract does not claim higher efficiency or faster kinetics than OSKM transcription-factor delivery.  
- The discussion highlighted that the real value of the work may lie in elucidating reprogramming pathways rather than in immediate protocol improvements.  
- Concerns were raised about in-vivo application: balancing pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics for a dozen small molecules while avoiding “supercancer” was deemed far harder than delivering intracellular proteins in culture.  
- The exchange underscored the broader tension between headline-grabbing reprogramming techniques and the incremental, safety-focused work required for clinical translation.