Thursday, July 23

To Clone or Not to Clone . . .


AP News Release: By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein, Ap Science Writer – Thu Jul 23, 4:47 pm ET

"Two teams of Chinese scientists have made a major advance in mice in the development of a new kind of stem cell that doesn't involve destroying embryos.

"Those cells are derived from ordinary skin cells, and when they were created two years ago from human skin and genetically reprogrammed, it was hailed as a breakthrough. But questions remained whether they could act as chameleon-like as embryonic stem cells and morph into any cell type in the body.

"One way to show that versatility is if the new reprogrammed stem cells could be used to produce an entire new life.

"And now researchers have shown they can in mice.

"For the first time, they were able to produce live mice from stem cells that were coaxed from skin tissue of adult mice and then reprogrammed. And while there were abnormalities and unusual deaths with some of the first generation of mice, one team produced enough normal mice this way to create hundreds of second and third generation mice." Full story here

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"Don't mind Joey there. He's got a little twitch and can't pronounce his 'W's, but remember, he's a third-gen-test kid."

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