Not only is it possible to create hESC lines without destroying a human embryo, and not only does each blastocyst provides a potentially infinite number of cells for research, but most researchers who
work with these human embryonic stem cell lines never encounter donated human embryos, just the lines generated from them.
The final guidelines on research
with human embryonic stem cells issued on Monday by the National Institutes of Health set out criteria for determining which ES cell lines can be used in federally funded experiments and give NIH discretion to approve old lines that don't meet stringent modern ethical requirements.
In a statement put on the Web this morning, NIH reported that all 64 lines «show characteristics of stem cell morphology» and have undergone several population doublings, and most of them have demonstrated all the protein markers «known to be
associated with human embryonic stem cells.»
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will have a few more days in which to review and fund pending grants that
deal with human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) before the next court ruling in the lawsuit that claims such funding is illegal.
The real test will be in repeating the
results with human embryonic stem cells, says Robert Lanza at Advanced Cell Technology in Marlborough, Massachusetts, who is involved with the vision trial.
«Now let's do
it with the human embryonic stem cell into a monkey.
Advocates for research
with human embryonic stem cells are worried by the latest twist in the cells» political story.
With human embryonic stem cells, Kosik explained that for some time he and his team have been studying a set of control genes called microRNAs.