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/==============================================================\ | Bill Innanen's Forwarding Service (BIFS) | |--------------------------------------------------------------| | I've forwarded this message to you because I thought | | that you might be interested in the subject matter. If I'm | | wrong in this assumption, please let me know and I'll not | | send material on this subject again. Please note that I'm | | not the author of this material (I try to preserve the | | author's headers) and that the material may have copyright | | restrictions. -- Bill Innanen <[log in to unmask]> | \==============================================================/ [from myCNN - no URL available] Geron tries cloning without using eggs January 27, 2000 Web posted at: 2:05 PM EST (1905 GMT) LONDON (Reuters) -- The scientists that cloned Dolly the Sheep are working on a new method to cut the need for human egg cells and cloned embryos, a magazine said Wednesday. If successful, Geron BioMed's technique could remove a major ethical obstacle to using therapeutic cloning to repair cells or human organs damaged by disease, New Scientist reported. The research firm, launched by the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh where Dolly was cloned and now owned by U.S. biotechnology company Geron Corp, is already testing the technique on mouse and sheep cells. "We have some completely novel ideas which we can't disclose now. Once we confirm the hypothesis in sheep, we might be able to try it in people three years later," Simon Best, Geron BioMed's managing director, told the magazine. New Scientist said that unlike conventional cloning, in which the gutted egg reprograms the genes of the donor cell, winding back their developmental clock, the new technique will use embryonic stem cells. "In this case, the reprogrammed cells wouldn't form an embryo, but instead develop directly into the cells or tissues the patient needs," the magazine said. The embryonic stem cells, which can develop into any of the body's tissues, will still come from human embryos but the technique will reduce the number of embryos needed because they can be grown in culture. When Geron acquired the research company from the Roslin Institute last year it said it planned to focus on growing human tissue that would not have the immune system problems with donor organs. Geron recently won the first two British patents covering the technology used to clone Dolly the sheep. The nuclear transfer technique involves taking the nucleus out of an adult cell and using it to reprogram an unfertilized egg. The patents also cover the new technique. "Rather than specifying eggs, the patents describe fusion of donor cell with 'a suitable recipient cell'," the magazine added.