Summary
A new stem cell technique that spares a human embryo has been introduced. If proven to work, the controversy over stem cell research might be over.
Original source:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20050725-13030100-bc-us-stemcells.xml
Details
"With our methods, stem cells can be made available for groundbreaking medical research and no embryos are damaged or destroyed in the process," said Dr. Eric Scott Sills, a physician with George Reproductive Specialists in Atlanta and principal author of a new study in the journal Theoretical Biology and Medical Modeling.
Sills told United Press International he hopes the findings can be used to develop embryo-sparing techniques that will be acceptable to those opposed to their destruction.
Embryonic stem cells are valued because they can give rise to every tissue type in the body.
In addition to yielding insight about diseases, most scientists think the cells have the potential to be used to regenerate damaged or diseased tissues or organs.
The research remains controversial, however, because current techniques for obtaining the cells require the destruction of human embryos.
Scientists have been developing alternative techniques that spare embryos, and the topic was the subject of a Senate hearing earlier this month, but this is the first time an alternative technique has been used in an animal model and reported in a scientific journal.
The first involves obtaining cells from embryos that are not considered viable and are destined to be discarded.
In the second method, the team biopsied an embryo and obtained cells that may have the potential to give rise to embryonic stem cells.
Whether the biopsy technique will prove as successful with human cells remains to be seen.
Dr. Robert Lanza, a scientist at Advanced Cell Technology in Worcester, Mass.
Lanza testified during the Senate hearing July 12 that Advanced Cell has used a biopsy technique to create embryonic-stem-cell lines, but his researchers have not yet published the data in a scientific journal.
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Tuesday, August 02, 2005
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