Stem cells “A new era”

Scientists in the Cambridge England first generated embryonic stem cells from mouse embryos, but James Thompson of the University of Wisconsin to generate the first human ES cells in 1998 adapted the technique. These cells are the precursors to all cells in the body. Animal cloning by Ian VWImut and Keith Campbell raised the possibility that ESC could be created by “therapeutic cloning”, that is fusion of cells from a patient with an egg from with the chromosomes have been removed. ES cells from these cloned embryos, which could be coaxed into the cell types needed for a cure, would be an exact match for the patient, thus preventing rejection. In addition, to providing a source of cells for therapy, stem cells offer insights into developmental events that cannot be studied directly in the human embryo.