Researchers Detour around Stem-Cell Rules

October 2, 2007

Thwarted by regulations on egg donation for research, scientists craft new ways to manufacture embryos . . .

Excerpt:

Mr. Byrne, a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University’s Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, studies stem cells. Like
hundreds of other researchers worldwide, his ultimate goal is to use cloning to develop embryonic stem cells that are genetically matched to patients. In theory, these cells could enable scientists to grow any of the body’s 200 or so cell types and replace a patient’s diseased or damaged tissue without the threat of immune rejection. But these much-hyped therapies remain distant goals because the raw materials
needed to develop such technologies – namely human eggs – are in short supply.

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