Scientists have created embryonic stem cells in mice without destroying embryos in the process, potentially removing the major controversy over work in this field. Embryonic stem cells are special because they are pluripotent, meaning they can develop into virtually any kind of tissue type. They therefore offer the promise of customized cells for therapy.
The work, which appears in the June 6 online issue of Nature, was led by Rudolf Jaenisch, a member of the Whitehead Institute and a professor of biology at MIT. His colleagues on the work are from Whitehead, MIT, Massachusetts General Hospital, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and Harvard Medical School.
By genetically manipulating mature skin cells taken from a mouse, the scientists transformed these cells back into a state identical to that of an embryonic stem cell. No eggs were used, and no embryos destroyed.
If this can be replicated in humans, this could be a tremendous breakthrough. It completely bypasses the ethical issues raised by many about having to destroy embryos in current stem-cell research.
1 comment:
The sad thing is that the leftist pro-abortion movement will probably try to ignore or stymie this type of initiative, so that they can continue to be able to politicize this issue.
The reality is that many pro-abortionists use the embryonic stem cell issue as a way of trying to assert a pro-abortion agenda.
Hopefully the science will win out over the politics in this case.
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