August 22, 2005

Skin Embryonic Stem Cell Fusion

Good news on the stem cell front - a Harvard group claims that they can turn skin cells into embryonic stem cells without having to form an embryo first. Instead, they fuse a skin cell with an existing stem cell and the result is an embryonic stem cell with the DNA of the skin cell (and thus the person who provided the skin cell). But before you get your hopes up that Aunt Jenny is going to walk tomorrow, the cells aren't exactly usable in humans because they are hybrids and the embryonic stem cell nucleus has to be removed before it can be used. So this is step on in a multi-step process. But at least it's a journey I don't object to.

Posted by Kevin Murphy at August 22, 2005 11:24 AM | Science
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I am against harvesting stem cells from embryos, but this sounds encouraging. There seems to be great promise for the technology itself. This sems to be a step in the right direction.

Posted by: steel at August 22, 2005 5:23 PM