A new technique plucks single cells from human embryos, generating stable embryonic stem cells lines while apparently leaving the embryo intact, scientists reported online Wednesday in Nature."We're able to for the first time show it's possible to create embryonic stem cells without harming the embryo's potential for life. Hopefully this will solve the most basic objection to stem cell research," coauthor Robert Lanza, of Advanced Cell Technology at Worcester, Mass., told The Scientist.Still, scientists cautioned the technique is still in its infancy, and only time will tell if it can benefit research. For instance, additional studies need to determine how similar or different the cells produced via this technique are to conventional human embryonic stem cell lines, said James Battey, chair of the National Institutes of Health stem cell task force, who did not participate in this study. "We don't know if it's easier or harder...
The Scientistprevious studyin vitroin vitroharm the embryoin vitroAlberto HayekThe Scientistsidestep issues of contaminationArnold KriegsteinMahendra Rao The Scientistcchoi@the-scientist.comNaturehttp://www.nature.comhttp://www.advancedcell.com/senior-executive-officers/#Robert%20Lanza,%20M.D.http://stemcells.nih.gov/policy/taskForce/tfMembers.aspNature,PM_ID: 16227970The Scientisthttp://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/22801/http://www.whittier.org/pages/lab_investigators.html#ChiThe Scientisthttp://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/15431/http://stemcell.medschool.ucsf.edu/Faculty/kriegstein_arnold.aspxThe Scientisthttp://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/23340/
Interested in reading more?
Become a Member of
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
