Embryos harvested to create stem cell crop
 Image caption: The embryonic stem cell stock will be used as part of an 
international initiative comprising 14 laboratories (wikipedia)
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Swiss scientists have succeeded in producing a crop of human embryonic stem 
cells (HES) as part of a four-year research period permitted by the 
government.
Changes in Swiss legislation in 2004 gave the Geneva University team a 
window of opportunity until 2008 to study embryos that had been donated for 
research before 2001.
The team has developed its first successful line of stock of HES cells from 
which further research can now be carried out.
In contrast to most stem cell development, the team was able to produce 
cells in conditions free from animal components, the use of which raises 
ethical concerns and a risk of transmitting germs.
"For us it's a success. This line has been derived without exposing the 
cells to animal components, like foetal bovine serum, which is the case in 
most of the lines available in the different laboratories now," Marisa 
Jaconi, project leader at the university's faculty of medicine, told 
swissinfo.
"But we would have been happy even without this successful line. It was a 
great opportunity to start this project, to learn and to gain all the 
know-how of doing it."
 Marisa Jaconi says the project served as a learning experience   (Geneva 
University Hospitals)Hard work
Switzerland passed an amendment in 2004 to the 2001 medically assisted 
procreation act that banned the freezing of embryos beyond the zygote, or 
impregnated egg, stage.
The law dictated that all leftover embryos that were frozen before 2001 had 
to be destroyed by 2005. But in 2004, the government ruled that surplus 
embryos could be kept until 2008 if donated for research.
The team was given the go-ahead for the project in 2005 after approval by 
the institutional ethics research committee of the Geneva University 
Hospitals and the Federal Health Office.
Two groups from the university's medical faculty and the gynaecology and 
obstetrics department worked on 203 embryos that had been donated from seven 
in vitro fertilisation centres around the country.
Most of the embryos had been frozen between 1979 and 2000. But the success 
rate of reproducing cells was minimal, as many of the embryos were unhealthy 
or did not survive thawing. The likelihood of success was further diminished 
by using frozen embryos which have a reduced chance of development and thus 
of providing a line of cells.
"We quite expected this given the old age of those embryos. The problem was 
that their quality was so low that it was hard work. We did what we could 
with what we had," explained Jaconi.
Cancer link
The team managed to derive a line of cells from an unhealthy embryo, which 
was then cultivated on human skin fibroplasts and transplanted into mice 
that did not have immune systems.
Researchers expected the cells to form benign tumours - useful research 
tools containing almost all cell types - but instead they developed into 
more cancerous growths.
"It is the first tumorigenic line of HES cells derived from a single cell of 
a human embryo," said Jaconi.
"We can now study why this line formed very aggressive tumours. It could 
constitute a useful research tool for studying cancer."
Jaconi said previous lines of embryonic-like stem cells were developed in 
the 1960s from malignant gynaecological tumours.
She said she hoped the results would enable her team to better process 
future embryos that are donated for research.
The findings were reported to stem cell registry of the Federal Health 
Office and published in the Swiss Medical Weekly journal.
The stock will be used by the International Stem Cell Forum, which brings 
together 14 laboratories worldwide and encourages collaboration in stem cell 
research.
It has been banked in the team's laboratories and may also be introduced to 
the European Registry of Embryonic Stem Cells.
swissinfo, Jessica Dacey

Rayilyn Brown
Director AZNPF
Arizona Chapter National Parkinson Foundation
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