Human embryonic stem cell study under investigation

A group of anonymous scientists has voiced concerns about a controversial stem cell finding published online in Cell earlier this month, causing the journal to begin an investigation... [Read More]

Human embryonic stem cells created via cloning

Embryonic stem cells have been created from human skin cells for the first time by US scientists using a cloning technique... [Read More]

Crick Cambridge college commemoration

A memorial to Francis Crick has been unveiled at his former college at the University of Cambridge to mark the 60th anniversary of the publication of the structure of DNA... [Read More]

Professors Gurdon and Yamanaka awarded Nobel Prize for work on stem cells

Professor Sir John Gurdon of the University of Cambridge has been jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for his work on stem cells. He shares the prize for medicine or physiology with Professor Shinya Yamanaka from Japan... [Read More]

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.

Study war no more: Science, politics and the battle over US government funding for embryonic stem cell research

Have you ever played the children's game Red Light/Green Light? Someone yells 'green light!' and everyone runs as fast as they can (some in circles, but that's not against the rules). When they yell 'red light!', everyone freezes in some contorted position. Playing Red Light/Green Light seems not unlike the experience of conducting embryonic stem cell research in the United States... [Read More]

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]

New rules allow federal funding of US stem cell lines

The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has published new rules that will govern state funded embryonic stem (ES) cell research now that the seven years of restriction under the Bush administration have come to an end. The new rules restrict research to stem cells sourced from surplus embryos donated by IVF patients and, consequently, forbid research on any embryo that was created specifically for the purposes of research (either through voluntary donation of human eggs or by employing... [Read More]

Day-glow dogs for genetic research

Researchers in South Korea have announced the creation of four healthy puppies that glow bright red under UV light. Reported in the journal Genesis, the team from the College of Veterinary Medicine at Seoul National University claim the new model will be of importance in the study... [Read More]

Obama victory heralds change in US stem cell policy

President-elect Barack Obama's victory in last week's US presidential elections is being celebrated by supporters of embryonic stem (ES) cell research. Senator Obama has been a vocal advocate of removing the current restriction on federal funds for human ES cell research imposed by President Bush in 2001... [Read More]

Mice cloned from frozen brain cells

A team of scientists from the Riken Centre for Developmental Biology in Kobe, Japan have cloned healthy mice from the cells of animals frozen 16 years ago. The technique they used involved taking the nucleus of a cell from a frozen mouse and injecting it into a... [Read More]

'Egg sharing' and 'hybrid embryos' offer hope for stem cell research

Two announcements made last week have important implications for the future progress of human stem cell research in the UK. Both were related to research involving 'therapeutic cloning' - the creation of stem cell lines from patients with incurable diseases (such as Alzheimer's and cardiomyopathy) in order to... [Read More]

Stem cell researchers warn of egg shortage in the US

US stem cell researchers have called for prohibitions on the payment of compensation to egg donors to be removed if an egg shortage crisis is to be avoided. In an article published in Nature last week, Kevin Eggan and Douglas Melton from Harvard University's Stem Cell Institute... [Read More]

Australian researchers apply for a licence to create cloned human embryos

Two teams of Australian scientists have applied for a licence to use eggs left over from fertility treatment to create cloned human embryos, Australian newspapers report. The application, which is the first to be made in the country, has been submitted to a National Health and Medical... [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]