MADISON, Wis. -- Wisconsin's stem cell researchers are part of a major development that that could provide the medical payoffs of embryo cloning without the controversy.

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Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison lab of stem cell pioneer Jamie Thomson and those at Kyoto University in Japan have made ordinary human skin cells take on the chameleon-like powers of embryonic stem cells.

The biggest part of the research is how the stem cell lines are created. Scientists have found a way to use normal skin tissue to create what could possibly be the key to curing countless diseases. They start with skin cells, and they're left with valuable stem cells.

Dr. Robert Lanza, chief science officer of Advanced Cell Technology, said that the work is a "tremendous scientific milestone" and is the biological equivalent of the Wright Brothers' first airplane.

The new discovery helps avoid the ethical, political and practical obstacles that have held back attempts to produce human stem cells by cloning embryos.

UW-Madison Bio-Law professor Alta Charo said the discovery is big news.

"A skin cell has already specialized over time to become a skin cell," Charo said. "All it wants to be is a skin cell -- that's its only goal in its cellular life. What they have done is by inserting a few genes, they make it forget that it's a skin cell, and it thinks, 'I can be anything.' (There's) unlimited potential to become any part of the body -- skin, muscle, blood, neurological tissue."

Charo said the discovery helps avoid the ethical, political and practical obstacles that have held back attempts to produce human stem cells by cloning embryos. So, the researches qualify for federal funding, which was cut by the Bush administration in 2002.

Charo said the breakthrough gets Wisconsin back in the game when it comes to stem cell research because for many years, researches went to states like California, where private funding for embryonic stem cell research is abundant.

"California, for many years, has felt like the 800-pound gorilla in the room," Charo said. "And I would say that this research means that that gorilla has gone on a diet."

The group of researchers in Japan used a process of transforming skin cells similar to the one used by UW-Madison researchers, although the team in Japan used two different genes to convert the skin cells into stem cells.

The results were released on Tuesday online by two journals, Cell and Science. The research reported in Cell is from a team led by Dr. Shinya Yamanaka at Thomson's lab.

Thomson made headlines in 1998 when he announced that his team had isolated human embryonic stem cells.