Researchers Devise New Technique for Creating Human Stem Cells

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Research News from the Medical Institute

Researchers Devise New Technique for Creating Human Stem Cells

HHMI researchers have developed a new technique for creating

human embryonic stem cells by fusing adult somatic cells with

embryonic stem cells. The fusion causes the adult cells to undergo

genetic reprogramming, which results in cells that have the

developmental characteristics of human embryonic stem cells. The new

technique may permit scientists to derive new human embryonic stem

cell lines without the need to use human embryos.

This approach could become an alternative to somatic cell nuclear

transfer (SCNT), a method that is currently used to produce human

stem cells. SCNT involves transferring the nuclei of adult cells,

called somatic cells, into oocytes in which scientists have removed

the nuclei.

Research published in the August 26, 2005, issue of Science.

A. Melton, Ph.D., HHMI investigator Harvard University

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