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PETBioNewsNewsAlternative methods for obtaining ES cells developed

BioNews

Alternative methods for obtaining ES cells developed

Published 9 June 2009 posted in News and appears in BioNews 330

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BioNews

Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family (from Greek and Roman mythology) entwined in coils of DNA.
Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family entwined in coils of DNA (based on the figure of Laocoön from Greek and Roman mythology).

New techniques could make it possible for scientists to obtain embryonic stem (ES) cells without destroying a viable human embryo, two studies published online in Nature suggest. In the first, researchers based at US company Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) derived ES cells from a single cell taken from early mouse...

New techniques could make it possible for scientists to obtain embryonic stem cells (ES cells) without destroying a viable human embryo, two studies published online in Nature suggest. In the first, researchers based at US company Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) derived ES cells from a single cell taken from early mouse embryos, which then went on to develop normally. In the second, scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston derived ES cells from an 'altered' cloned mouse embryo that would never be able to implant in the womb. However, both groups of scientists stress that their methods should not be portrayed as alternatives to existing techniques for obtaining ES cells, and that all lines of research should continue.


Many scientists believe that ES cells - 'master' cells that can develop into almost any of the body's 200 different types of tissue - could lead to new treatments for a range of diseases. However, ES cell research is either banned or limited in many countries, since it involves the destruction of human embryos. In the US, some senators unhappy with recent proposals to expand federal funding of ES cell research have proposed the use of alternative methods for obtaining these cells. But until now, the feasibility of such approaches was largely unproven.


Robert Lanza and his colleagues at ACT, the company that produced the world's first cloned human embryo, removed single cells from mouse embryos that had reached the eight-cell stage. This technique is the same as the 'embryo biopsy' method used by scientists carrying out PGD, a procedure that has resulted in the birth of hundreds of healthy babies worldwide. The team then coaxed the single 'blastomere' cell into a colony of ES cells, by putting it in contact with existing ES cells. If the technique could be repeated using human embryos, then the resulting babies would have a supply of genetically-matched stem cells that could be used to treat any diseases they might develop during their lives, says Lanza.


In the second study, Rudolf Jaenisch and his team derived ES cells from cloned mouse embryos that had been genetically altered, so that they could not grow a placenta. Dubbed 'altered nuclear transfer', the technique involves blocking the action of a gene called Cdx2 in the skin cells used in the cloning process, so that the resulting embryos will never be capable of implanting into the womb. However, not all stem cell researchers are convinced by the approach. 'I don't see how it solves any ethical problems. The people who object are opposed to the whole cascade of reproductive medicine...they are not going to be won over by embryos that are not viable for a pregnancy', UK stem cell researcher Stephen Minger told the Times newspaper.

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Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family (from Greek and Roman mythology) entwined in coils of DNA.
Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family entwined in coils of DNA (based on the figure of Laocoön from Greek and Roman mythology).
Comment
18 June 2009 • 3 minutes read

Biological Engineering cannot replace rational resolution of ethical debate

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Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family (from Greek and Roman mythology) entwined in coils of DNA.
Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family entwined in coils of DNA (based on the figure of Laocoön from Greek and Roman mythology).
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9 June 2009 • 2 minutes read

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Image by Sílvia Ferreira, Cristina Lopo and Eileen Gentleman via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a single human stem cell embedded within a porous hydrogel matrix (false colour).
CC BY 4.0
Image by Sílvia Ferreira, Cristina Lopo and Eileen Gentleman via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a single human stem cell embedded within a porous hydrogel matrix (false-coloured cryogenic scanning electron micrograph).
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9 June 2009 • 3 minutes read

Skin and ES cells fused making cell with ES cell qualities

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A new, embryo-free technology may be in the making for stem cell research. Scientists fused adult skin cells with laboratory-grown embryonic stem (ES) cells, and then saw the hybrid cells revert back to an embryonic state. If perfected, this technology could provide a way to obtain ES cells for research...

Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family (from Greek and Roman mythology) entwined in coils of DNA.
Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family entwined in coils of DNA (based on the figure of Laocoön from Greek and Roman mythology).
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A new US bill that proposes funding research into alternatives to human embryonic stem (ES) cells is gaining support, and could take votes away from bill HR810, which proposes expanding federal funding for ES cell research. The new bill, HR3144 - introduced by Republican Senator Roscoe Bartlett - proposes $15 million a...

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts equipment used for embryo biopsy.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts equipment used for embryo biopsy.
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9 June 2009 • 1 minute read

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At the same time as the US's Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005 was passed through the House of Representatives, another bill on stem cell research was passed. Members of the House also voted in favour of new legislation that would promote the use of adult stem cells derived...

Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family (from Greek and Roman mythology) entwined in coils of DNA.
Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family entwined in coils of DNA (based on the figure of Laocoön from Greek and Roman mythology).
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9 June 2009 • 2 minutes read

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by BioNews

The US President's Council on Bioethics has published a report on alternatives to human embryonic stem (ES) cells, which do not involve the destruction of embryos. The document, entitled 'Alternative sources of pluripotent stem cells', looks at ways of extending the number of cell-lines available to federally funded stem cell...

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