Advanced Cell to Host Investor Conference Call
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Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. has announced that it will hold an investor conference call on Friday, August 25, 2006, at 12 noon Eastern, to discuss its technique to generate human embryonic stem cell lines from embryos while fully preserving the embryo's potential for life and development.
The proprietary technique, which was recently published in the scientific journal "Nature," aims to resolve many of the ethical issues currently stunting embryonic stem cell research and may finally open the door to needed funding from the federal government.
During the conference call, William M. Caldwell IV, Chief Executive Officer of Advanced Cell Technology (ACT), and Dr. Michael D. West, Ph.D., President and Chief Scientific Officer of ACT, will discuss the company's scientific advances and business initiatives, and will address investor questions.
Among the primary ethical objections of those who oppose the generation of human embryonic stem cells is that all techniques, until now, have resulted in the destruction of the embryo.
The company's technique is designed to overcome this hurdle, offering the potential to speed the progress of stem cell science from laboratory to bedside.
"We hope that this new technique will allow us to make stem cell lines widely available for researchers around the country," said Mr. Caldwell.
"Our goal is to help accelerate basic research and enable the translation of that research into real cures and treatments for many of the world's most devastating diseases."
In the paper in "Nature," ACT scientists described their technique to generate human embryonic stem cells (hES cells) using a method for deriving stem cells from human blastomeres with a single-cell biopsy technique called Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD).
Current embryonic stem cell technology is the source of a heated national controversy because it derives hES cells from the inner cell mass of later-stage embryos known as blastocysts, destroying their potential for further development.
"What has made ACT's novel approach so groundbreaking is its ability to generate stem cell lines of equal scientific value from a single cell obtained from an 8-cell-stage embryo, while maintaining the embryo's potential to develop normally," said Mr. Caldwell.
