Egg Shortages Stalling Stem Cell Research

August 13, 2008

In January, renowned scientists and researchers lauded the success of Stemagen Corp., a small biotechnology firm in La Jolla, when it became the first to document the successful cloning of human embryos by fusing donated egg cells with the DNA from the skin cells of an adult man. The research is widely considered a major step toward creating embryonic stem cell lines from cloned human embryos. Those cells are capable of evolving into the more than 200 different cell types in the body and, in theory, could one day be used to replace cells that have been destroyed by diseases, such as Parkinson’s and Lou Gherig’s Disease. (Voice of San Diego)