A British regulatory agency this week granted two universities permission to develop human-animal hybrid embryos for stem cell research. Scientists intend to use the embryos, developed from human DNA in non-human mammalian eggs, for neurodegenerative and diabetes research.

According to a statement from Britain's Human Fertilsation and Embryology Authority, applications from Kings College London and Newcastle University "satisfied all the requirements of the law," and researchers were granted a one-year license to develop the embryos.

Human embryonic stem cell research using oocytes is legal in Britian, a 2007 report in Nature Cell Biology said, "...but the shortage of donated human oocytes has prompted the search for an alternative, hence the idea of using animal eggs."

A hat tip to the Chronicle of Higher Education's News Blog.