Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
Date: February 28, 2008
Summary:
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports stem cell biotechnology company PrimeGen Biotech created stem cells with traits of embryonic stem cells without using embryos:
"Just three months after leading scientists turned ordinary skin cells into embryonic-like stem cells - easing an ethical storm - a small biotech company says it has removed a major safety obstacle to this new approach. PrimeGen Biotech of Irvine, Calif., says its embryonic-like stem cells are created without human eggs or embryos - as were the cells reported by researchers in Wisconsin and Japan last fall. The difference is that PrimeGen has shortcut the process of turning a cell's developmental clock backward, using what it calls 'purified proteins.' That not only hastens the reprogramming - a week or two instead of a month - but also avoids the theoretical danger of triggering cancer, ...'"
