Breakthrough in stem cell research - world's first reprogrammed adult cell

US scientists have for the first time created 'personalised' human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) using a form of cloning. The result is a significant milestone on the route to using stem cell-based therapies but the researchers stress more work is to be done as genetic errors in the cells means they are not yet suitable for therapeutic use....[Read More]

HFEA asks scientists for advice on mitochondrial disease treatment

Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley has asked the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to convene an expert group 'to assess the effectiveness and safety' of a fertility treatment that would enable children to be born without potentially devastating, incurable mitochondrial diseases.

Setback in non-embryonic stem cell use

Stem cells created from a patients' own tissue are subtly different from those derived from embryos in ways that may affect their therapeutic potential, two independent research groups have found. Both studies found induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) retain an 'epigenetic memory' of their tissue of origin...[Read More]

Book Review: An Introduction to Stem Cells

With modern day medico-scientific technology advancing at an incredible pace, it is very easy for the layperson to become caught up in the technical language used by scientists and academics in their specialist field. Often, out of a lack of expertise, even the media misrepresent information, particularly in relation to research involving stem cells...[Read More]

Western Australia rejects cloning legislation

The Upper House of the state of Western Australia has voted against legislation to permit the cloning of human embryos for research and to also allow surplus embryos to be donated for medical research following IVF. The bill, which if passed would have brought the state in...[Read More]

Ohio considers anti-cloning measure

A measure which if passed will ban all forms of embryo cloning in the state of Ohio, including somatic cell nuclear transfer or so-called 'therapeutic cloning', is currently being debated by the Ohio Senate Judiciary Civil Justice Committee. The Committee has not yet voted on Senate Bill...[Read More]

Campaigners call for parental consent in stem cell research

Campaigners are lobbying the UK Government to change the current Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill to allow embryonic stem cells to be created using tissue from ill children, in order to facilitate research into life-limiting diseases. Under the current version of the Bill the procedure could not...[Read More]

Women donate their eggs to research for cut-price IVF

A UK fertility centre has launched a scheme to provide women with cut-price IVF treatment in return for donating some of their eggs to research. The 'egg-sharing' initiative is being offered by the Newcastle NHS Fertility Centre and the North-East England Stem Cell Institute (Nesci) and will...[Read More]

'Reprogrammed' stem cells excite opponents of embryo research

Last week's announcement that two teams of researchers, led by Dr Shinya Yamanaka at Japan's Kyoto University and Professor James Thompson at the University of Wisconsin in the US, had managed to 'reprogram' human skin cells into what they term induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells has re-ignited...[Read More]

UN report calls for worldwide ban on human cloning

The United Nation's Institute of Advanced Studies has issued a report containing a stark warning to the rest of the world: introduce global legislation to prohibit reproductive cloning or prepare to consider laws that protect cloned individuals from potential discrimination, prejudice and abuse. The report, entitled 'Is...[Read More]

Scientists successfully clone primate embryonic stem cells

Scientists at the Oregon Health and Science University's (OHSU) National Primate Research Centre have announced a successful attempt to derive embryonic stem (ES) cells from the skin cells of a macaque monkey. The research, which represents the first time a cloned ES cell line has been derived...[Read More]

Tasmania permits therapeutic cloning in embryo research

The Tasmanian Parliament has passed legislation to make therapeutic cloning lawful in the state, mirroring Australian federal legislation to this effect. In both Houses of the Tasmanian parliament the Human Cloning and other Prohibited Practices Amendment Bill 2007 was approved amid much controversy and emotive debate. The...[Read More]

$450 million stem cell funding in New Jersey will be put to voters

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine has proposed funding of $450 million for stem cell research in the state. The measure, already passed in the Assembly by 50 votes to 27 and in the Senate 31 to 3, will be placed on the ballot box in time for...[Read More]

US embryo stem cell policy update

A provision contained in a US Senate appropriations bill that would have expanded federal funding for human embryonic stem (ES) cell research has been dropped after President Bush threatened to veto the legislation. Senators Tom Harkin and Arlen Specter said that they were willing to 'compromise' and...[Read More]

Cut-price IVF for stem cell research egg donors

Women who donate some of their eggs to stem cell research will receive half-price discounted IVF treatment - a £1,500 stipend reducing the costs of one cycle of IVF treatment from £3,000 - at the Newcastle Fertility Centre. The Medical Research Council has recently awarded £150,000 funding to subsidise...[Read More]

US stem cell policy news

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has passed a new measure that supports stem cell research - including that on human embryonic stem cells - but prohibits human cloning. Blagojevich established the Illinois Regenerative Medicine Institute in 2005, which has since spent $15 million on research. The new law will aid...[Read More]

Reproducing regulation: issues arising from the Human Tissue and Embryos (Draft) Bill

A Parliamentary committee has recently challenged several proposals in the UK Government's draft revised legislation for assisted reproduction and embryo research, published earlier this year. These areas of biomedical research and personal reproductive decisions raise important ethical and social issues. As such, the committee report is welcome, because it re-opens...[Read More]

Missouri's cloning laws under threat

An initiative to prohibit research involving somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) - so-called 'therapeutic cloning' - in Missouri has been proposed, by a group calling itself 'Cures Without Cloning'. Missourians narrowly voted in favour for an amendment to their constitution last November permitting the allocation of state funding for...[Read More]

Unexpected breakthrough revealed from Hwang cloning scandal

The disgraced South Korean stem cell scientist, Woo Suk Hwang, whose spectacular fall from grace dominated the newspaper headlines early last year, has been credited with 'accidentally' creating the world's fisrt stem cells produced from an unfertilised human egg. An international collaboration of scientists last week published...[Read More]

Scientists create stem cells from cloned primate embryos

Researchers have reported success in creating embryonic stem (ES) cell lines from cloned Rhesus monkey embryos, bringing the possibility of human therapeutic cloning closer. Dr Shoukhrat Mitalipov, of the Oregon National Primate Research Centre, announced his success - which was achieved through a modified somatic cell nuclear transfer...[Read More]