Harvard researchers to clone human embryos

Veronica Haynes,
TheBostonChannel.com News Editor
06-06-06

Boston: Medical researchers connected with Harvard University said they had begun work on cloning human embryos to create stem cells, using private funds to avoid a federal financing ban.

The researchers from the Harvard Stem Cell Research Institute (HSCRI) said the project was aimed at creating disease-specific stem cell lines in an effort to develop treatments for a wide range of incurable conditions afflicting tens of millions of people.

Four years ago, US President George W. Bush imposed a ban on federal financing of new embryonic stem cell lines and the HSCRI program will be run with private donations.

Research involving human embryonic stem cells is controversial because extracting the cells requires the destruction of a human embryo -- albeit one in the earliest stage of development.

Harvard University President Lawrence Summers said the potential benefits of the program outweighed the concerns of those who felt it challenged the sanctity of human life.

"While we understand and respect the sincerely held beliefs of those who oppose this research, we are equally sincere in our belief that the life-and-death medical needs of countless suffering children and adults justifies moving forward with this research," Summers said in a statement.

Embryonic stem cells, considered the building blocks of life, can be grown into any of the 200 cell types encountered in the human body and thus be used to replace defective tissues.

The process to be pursued by the HSCRI researchers involves removing nuclei from egg cells, and replacing them with the nuclei of donor cells.

The resulting cell is subject to a chemical, or electrical, charge that triggers cell division and the creation of an embryo genetically identical to the donor of the nuclei.

"Our long-term goal is to create embryonic stem cells from a patient's tissues, correct the genetic defects, and get the repaired cells back into the patients," said George Daley, who will lead one research at Boston Children's hospital.

"In the meantime, however, using an embryonic cell rather than a skin cell will increase the chances that nuclear transfer will be successful.

"This will allow us to answer some basic questions of stem cell biology while becoming technically proficient in creating stem cell lines," Daley said.

The work in the Daley laboratory is utilising donor eggs and embryos from women undergoing in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment.

During IVF treatment, a subset of retrieved eggs do not fertilise, and some embryos are not of sufficient quality to successfully produce a pregnancy.

Such eggs and embryos are typically disposed of as medical waste, but are capable of providing human embryonic stem cells.

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