Transatlantic collaboration on human tissue cloning

Geron Corporation, a California-based biotechnology company has bought the Scottish cloning technology that led to Dolly the sheep. It aims to marry the nuclear transfer technology of Dolly-style cloning with the Geron funded stem cell research published last year - with the aim of developing a way of producing cells and tissues for transplantation that are immunologically compatible with each individual patient. Many scientists are hopeful that the two technologies will allow the development of transplantation therapies for numerous degenerative disorders such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and heart disease.

Geron is issuing about £17m worth of new shares to buy Roslin Bio-Med, a private company set up last year to commercialise cloning research at the public-sector funded Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, where Dolly was born. The agreement gives Geron the right to exploit Roslin's cloning technology in all areas except in human reproductive cloning which is illegal in the UK and the production of drugs in the milk of transgenic animals which is licensed by PPL Therapeutics, an independent Scottish company.

Dr Ian Wilmut, the scientist who headed the Dolly cloning team, will gain about half a million pounds in Geron shares. He will continue to work at Geron Bio-Med, which will be a British subsidiary of Geron, based inside the Roslin Institute. Roslin's director Grahame Bulfield said: 'The nuclear transfer technology that produced Dolly has many applications. This deal will ensure UK scientists will play a key part in developing therapies that are potentially amongst the most exciting in human medicine.'