Stem Cells progression

On the BBC news last night a story on a new method regarding the production of stem cells caught my interest. In the New York Stem Cell Foundation Laboratory they have had little success with the old somatic cloning technique. When they removed the genetic material from the egg and replaced it with skin cell chromosomes, the egg divided but then failed to go beyond the 6-12 stage.

However when they left the egg's own genetic material in place and added skin chromosomes, the egg developed. It developed to reach the blastocyst level which is the usual source of embryonic stem cells (with about 100 cells contained).

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Because there are large ethical issues around producing and using embryos for therapeutic uses and then discarding the potential life form, a different route to stem cells has been used. A chemical baths can be used to 'reprogramme' an adult cell into a stem cell; the method does not require an egg. There are however concerns that these stem cells could not be used therapeutically as they are more prone to expressing cancer causing genes.

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