hello all

here's some interesting news
more than interesting potential

i wonder if we'll look in the archives in five years
and laugh

your parkie sister in another island paradise

janet

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>      Cloning Expert Tells NIH That Cell Programming Can Now Be
>      Directed
>=20
>      WESTPORT, Mar 14 (Reuters) - Leading with a comment that
>      cloning research has been a "team game," Dr. Ian Wilmut of
>      The Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland, described for
>      attendees at an NIH seminar his technique of nuclear
>      transfer that produced Dolly, the cloned lamb.
>=20
>      Dr. Wilmut outlined the procedure of using an electric
>      current to fuse cells at specific stages in the cell cycle.
>      He said that the fusion is characterized by nuclear membrane
>      breakdown, condensation and then nuclear membrane
>      regeneration. Of 277 embryos created, only five survived. Of
>      these, three died within a few days of birth due to abnormal
>      development, one died of unknown causes and one produced
>      Dolly.
>=20
>      "The process is very inefficient," Dr. Wilmut acknowledged.
>      Either nuclear transfer or culture causes an increase in
>      birthweight, prolonged gestation, and an increase in
>      perinatal mortality that is not associated with either
>      malformations or abnormal development.
>=20
>      "We can reprogram the development of a cell," an act that
>      has broad biological and regulatory implications, Dr. Wilmut
>      noted. "We can take cells from a patient and cause
>      differentiation or undifferentiation and redirect them," Dr.
>      Wilmut said. He pointed out that his is an agriculturally
>      oriented institution, and his colleagues are considering
>      using his methods to create superior animals for
>      agricultural uses.
>=20
>      "This [technique] will provide the opportunity to
>      study...the mechanisms of aging...and diseases of the
>      mitochondria," Dr. Wilmut told the Bethesda, Maryland
>      gathering.
>=20
>      Meanwhile, the National Bioethics Advisory Commission,
>      chaired by Dr. Harold Shapiro, held a meeting yesterday at
>      the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D. C. This presidential
>      commission has prompted the development of the similarly
>      named American Bioethics Advisory Commission, which issued a
>      press release to coincide with the meeting. The American
>      Bioethics Advisory Commission is a group of scientists and
>      bioethicists who "...believe that the President's bioethics
>      panel is biased in favor of experimentation," according to a
>      PR Newswire report.
>=20
>      The American Bioethics Advisory Commission's chairman, Dr.
>      C. Ward Kischer advised caution in reaction to Dr. Wilmut's
>      cloning success. "The hard data must be examined very
>      carefully and the results must be repeatable...The 'success'
>      of one out of nearly 300 attempts is hardly the kind of
>      statistic that prompts an investment in repeatable
>      experiments," Dr. Kischer said.
>=20
>      In Bethesda, Dr. Wilmut echoed Dr. Kischer's words, saying
>      that he might have had very poor results with one success in
>      277, or he might have been extremely lucky--with the odds of
>      a success one in a million. Only further research will tell.
>=20
> Copyright =A9 1997 Reuters Limited.
http://www.reutershealth.com/news/docs/199703/19970314scd.html


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