Stem Cell Pioneers Confirm Patents Pending for Two Dramatic Advances in the Efficiency of Cloning Stem Cells

Source: Stem Cell Sciences plc via PRNewswire / Yahoo! Finance
Posted: Wednesday June 14, 2006 2:35 pm ET

Summary:

SAN FRANCISCO, June 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Stem Cell Sciences plc (SCS),
the first scientific team to prove therapeutic cloning is possible in
mammalian species, acknowledged two reports, by academic scientists
from the University of Edinburgh and Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT), which validate proprietary SCS technologies for improving the
efficiency of therapeutic cloning, or so-called "cell reprogramming."
In a significant report, published in today's edition [June 14th] of
the journal Nature, Professor Austin Smith and colleagues at the University
of Edinburgh conclusively demonstrate that the candidate pluripotency gene
"Nanog," named after Tir nan Og, the mythological Celtic land of the ever
young, can indeed play a dominant role in reprogramming tissue cells into
an embryonic stem cell state without the need for generating an embryo.

Commentary: Hopefully these results will accelerate the development of successful treatment of diseases using patient-specific stem cells in humans.