A series of breakthroughs in cloning technology over the last year and a half are stoking hopes that cells could be used as treatments for patients with chronic, debilitating diseases such as diabetes and Parkinson’s.
In January 2013, researchers at the Oregon Health and Science University reported that they had successfully created embryonic stem cells from a human embryo formed when the nucleus of one person’s cell was transferred into another person’s egg that had its original nucleus removed (see “Human Embryonic Stem Cells Cloned”). That was the first time stem cells had been made from such a cloned embryo, and the advance provides a potential route by which scientists could create various kinds of replacement cells based on a patient’s own genome.
Image: http://www.technologyreview.com - Healthy bloom: Insulin, shown in red, is being produced by cells that started as embryonic stem cells derived from a patient with type 1 diabetes.
