Advanced Cell Technology Develops Human Embryonic Stem Cell Line without Destroying an Embryo

Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. has produced a human embryonic stem cell (hESC) line without destroying an embryo at its lab in Worcester, Massachusetts. This development was announced by Robert Lanza, M.D., V.P. of Research and Scientific Development of Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) on Tuesday at the fifth annual meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) in Cairns, Australia.

In August 2006, ACT published a paper in Nature Magazine documenting a technique for removing a single cell (known as a blastomere) from an eight-cell human embryo, and using that cell to generate multiple hESCs without destroying the embryo.

At the ISSCR meeting, Dr. Lanza definitively announced that he and his team have now reproduced the work of removing a single cell blastomere from a human embryo with the surviving embryo cryo-preserved. Dr. Lanza noted at the meeting, “These are the first human embryonic stem cells in existence to be made without destroying an embryo.”

This development comes on the heels of President Bush’s veto of federal legislation which would have provided funding for embryonic stem cell research.