Scientists Urge Embryonic Stem Cell Research; Despite New Technique Creating Embryonic-Like Stem Cells

Main Category: Stem Cell Research
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 08 Jan 2008 - 10:00 PDT

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Although some experts "hailed" the November 2007 announcement that scientists in Japan and Wisconsin had "reprogrammed" mature adult human skin cells to produce embryonic-like stem cells that might eventually be converted into heart, nerve or other tissue as the "solution" to the U.S. debate over human embryonic stem cell research, private groups and state agencies that fund such research "see no reason to abandon their work," the Wall Street Journal reports.

Facilities that conduct embryonic stem cell research could be in even higher demand, according to Kevin Eggan, a stem cell biologist at Harvard University. Eggan believes that more research is needed on embryonic stem cells because the cells produced by the new technique are "genetically changed in a way that should make us worried about using them in animals or people or to model diseases." He added that embryonic stem cells "will be better" than the reprogrammed cells "even if they are more complicated politically" until the new technique is considered safe and stable enough for clinical trials.

According to the Journal, private donors have contributed more than $190 million to groups conducting research using embryonic stem cells. In addition, several states -- including California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland and New York -- are funding research using embryonic stem cells, the Journal reports. Richard Murphy, president of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, said CIRM still considers embryonic stem cells to be the "gold standard" in stem cell research. However, CIRM in an effort to "sort out the realities" plans to award $13 million in grants for research that does not destroy human embryos, Murphy said (Hotz, Wall Street Journal, 1/4).

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