Researchers Devise New Technique for Creating Human Stem Cells

August 22, 2005 | Source: KurzweilAI

Researchers have developed a new technique for creating human embryonic stem cells by fusing adult somatic cells with embryonic stem cells.

The fusion causes the adult cells to undergo genetic reprogramming, which results in cells that have the developmental characteristics of human embryonic stem cells. The new technique may permit scientists to derive new human embryonic stem cell lines without the need to use human embryos.

This approach could become an alternative to somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), a method that is currently used to produce human stem cells. SCNT involves transferring the nuclei of adult cells, called somatic cells, into oocytes in which scientists have removed the nuclei.

Research published in the August 26, 2005, issue of Science.

Source: Howard Hughes Medical Institute news release