The industrial application of biological processes and living organisms to make products for human use, especially in medicine, agriculture and food science.
ViaCell, a biotechnology company based in Boston, US, has announced that it is developing a procedure to enable women to freeze their eggs for later use. The procedure is ready to begin clinical trials and ViaCell says it would like to be able to offer the service within 18 months...
PPL Therapeutics, the biotechnology firm formed by the creators of Dolly the cloned sheep, faces liquidation this week, unless its shareholders back a last-minute survival plan. Chief executive Geoff Cook is holding a series of emergency meetings with investors, following news that the firm is to halt development of a...
Geron, a US biotechnology company, announced last week that it has patented a process that allows them to 'purify' batches of human embryonic stem (ES) cells. The patented process would allow scientists to separate useful ES cells from potentially harmful cells and would give Geron an advantage over other companies...
Scientists from the US biotechnology company Genzyme have published research that suggests that 'adult' stem cells may be more useful than was previously indicated. Scientists and pressure groups opposed to research on human embryos have asked on numerous occasions whether embryonic stem (ES) cell research is even necessary. There is...
More US states have been debating how to regulate human cloning and related research. Last Thursday, a hearing took place before three legislative committees in Massachusetts on a bill that would ban human reproductive cloning - currently not explicitly banned in the state - but 'give a government seal of approval' to...
PPL Therapeutics, the Scottish-based biotechnology firm responsible for creating Dolly the sheep, announced last week that it is to close the stem cell research side of its business based at Roslin, near Edinburgh, after no buyer had been found for it. In a statement issued by the company, it was...
PPL Therapeutics, the Scottish biotechnology firm behind the creation of Dolly the sheep, has reported that it has produced four cloned piglets which may bring scientists a step closer to being able to use pig organs in human transplants. On Christmas Day last year, a set of piglets was born...
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