Source: Reuters
Posted: August 2, 2007 12:28PM EDT
Summary:
Reuters reports scientists have potentially created first human embryonic stem cells from human eggs alone, without using embryos:
"An analysis of a now-discredited South Korean stem cell line suggests the scientists may have inadvertently created the first human embryonic stem cells derived from human eggs alone, U.S. researchers said. But researchers at the Harvard University Stem Cell Institute and Children's Hospital Boston Stem Cell Program believe the South Korean scientists unwittingly may have made a significant discovery. Using a new genetic sleuthing method derived by Daley and colleagues, he said they have determined that the South Korean cell line was derived from parthenogenesis, a type of asexual reproduction in which an egg develops into an embryo without sperm."
