The laboratory process, described in the journal Scientific Reports, entails genetically
modifying a line of
human embryonic stem cells to become fluorescent upon their differentiation to retinal ganglion
cells, and then using that
cell line for development of new differentiation methods and characterization of the resulting
cells.
However welcome the recent announcement that a team of scientists based at Newcastle University, has grown a section of
human liver using
stem cells from umbilical cords, rather than from the more controversial source of
embryonic stem cells, and whatever the eventual promise or potential of harvesting organs for transplantation from genetically
modified pigs, the benefits of either of these two pioneering techniques to currently dying / suffering patients, remain both elusive and distant.