Harvard Researchers Enter Human Embryonic Stem Cell Race

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Harvard Researchers Enter Human Embryonic Stem Cell Race

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/healthnews.php?newsid=44711

Researchers from Harvard University will attempt to create embryonic

stem cells, something Hwang Woo Suk, from South Korea, claimed to

have achieved - claims that turned out to be false. The aim will be

to create a human embryo clone, and then extract stem cells from it

which identically match a person genetically.

The scientists will combine genetic material from the cells of adult

humans with egg cells. The egg cells will be donated by women. The

new cloned embryos will mature for a few days, after which their stem

cells will be extracted.

The advantage of stem cells is that they can grow into virtually any

type of tissue in the human body. They can be transplanted into the

adult, who may have diabetes, for example, and replace missing cells -

in other words, cure him/her. As the stem cell comes from a cloned

embryo, which has the genetic material of the adult patient, the risk

of rejection of the transplanted stem cells is virtually eliminated.

These would be tailor-made stem cells, matched perfectly to the

patient's genes.

Hwang Woo Suk's research will be gone through with a toothcomb.

Scientists will need to extract from his research the stuff that was

real, and put to one side the false claims - and then further the

research. Whoever manages to do this most effectively will eventually

bask in the glory that Hwang Woo Suk craved for so much.

Several research centers around the world are in this race. Even in

the USA, which has been slow off the mark, the University of

California, San Francisco, has been given the green light to go ahead

after the plug was pulled on them in 2001. Other American research

centers are on the verge of getting approval from their ethics

boards. Some say they are only one or two years away from success.

Human embryonic stem cell research will be mainly funded from private

sources in the USA as the Bush administration restricted public

funding.

Having to create an embryo, allowing it develop for a few days, and

then to destroy it is something many people see as morally wrong -

Bush does. However, when the embryo is destroyed it is no

bigger than the dot at the end of this sentence. It is a question of

deciding whether the massive benefits this technology can bring to

millions of suffering people around the world, outweigh the moral

objections.

Basically, the Harvard scientists will:

1 - Isolate a cell from an adult's skin.

2 - Take out the nucleus of that cell.

3 - Get a human egg cell.

4 - Take the nucleus out of the egg cell.

5 - Place the adult's skin cell nucleus into the egg cell.

6 - The embryo that develops, because it has the nucleus of the skin

cell of the adult, is genetically identical to that adult.

This has been done with animals, but not yet with humans.

Generally, scientific research is not announced publicly until it has

been peer-reviewed and published. In this case, because of the

controversial nature of human embryonic stem cell research, the

scientists decided to announce it in advance.

Where will the eggs come from?

The scientists say from different sources. Currently they are

gathering eggs that failed to fertilize after in-vitro fertilization.

In other words, the eggs of women who want to get pregnant using IVF -

the eggs that failed to fertilize during the IVF procedure.