Scientists have made significant progress in human cloning research as they have successfully produced early embryos as a source of stem cells, according to a study published in the journal Cell.
Researchers at Oregon Health and Science University took skin cells from a baby with a genetic disease and combined them with human eggs to create human embryos identical to the baby's. Then, according to the New York Times, they mined those embryos for stem cells.
A thorough examination of the stem cells derived through this technique demonstrated their ability to convert just like normal embryonic stem cells, into several different cell types, including nerve cells, liver cells and heart cells. Furthermore, because these reprogrammed cells can be generated with nuclear genetic material from a patient, there is no concern of transplant rejection," Shoukhrat Mitalipov, a scientist on the team, said in a statement.
The technique used in the process, writes the BBC, is called somatic cell nuclear transfer, and was used to clone Dolly the sheep back in 1996.
It is the first time embryonic stem cells genetically identical to those from which they are derived have been cloned. However, researchers add that cloning a human embryo is a long ways off.
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