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Embryo Disease Diagnosis Technique Could Provide Lifelong Stem Cells Betterhumans Staff Thursday, October 23, 2003, 5:12:59 PM CT The production of hundreds of cells from one embryo cell could lead to improved genetic testing for in vitro fertilization and a lifelong supply of potent embryonic stem cells. In 1990, Alan Handyside led the first preimplantation genetic diagnosis to test embryos for genetic defects before they were implanted. While more than a million children have been born using IVF, however, just about a thousand have been screened using the technique. This is largely because just two cells can be taken from an embryo without damaging it while genetic tests are tricky and would benefit from far more. Standard techniques Handyside, currently at the UK's University of Leeds, has now derived hundreds of trophectoderm stem cells, which form the placenta, from undifferentiated cells taken from eight-cell mouse embryos. "We were surprised that we could do this quite so efficiently," says Handyside, whose team used standard techniques that had never been tried on embryonic cells because it was assumed they wouldn't work. Handyside is now trying to modify the technique to produce human trophectoderm stem cells. Many tests, lifelong stem cells With hundreds of human cells, doctors could carry out many preimplantation genetic tests rather than one or two. Doctors could also retrieve embryonic stem cells without destroying embryos, and cells frozen before someone is born could provide them with an unlimited source of perfectly matched tissues for treating diseases that they might develop later in life. Handyside presented his results earlier this month at a stem cell conference in Melbourne, Australia. The work is reported in New Scientist magazine. SOURCE: Better Humans / New Scientist http://www.betterhumans.com/News/news.aspx?articleID=2003-10-23-4 * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn