Scientists at the New York Stem Cell Foundation Laboratory have reprogrammed an adult human egg cell to an embryonic state using cloning technology and created a self-reproducing line of embryonic stem cells from the developing embryo. In so doing, they have managed a feat that has at times been thought impossible, then inevitable, then completed, then incomplete and unfeasible. Their work is published today in Nature.
It is not the end-all experiment that scientists aiming to create embryonic stem cells have been hoping for — the embryos are not true clones, because the DNA of the stem-cell line does not match that of the patient who donated cells — but it is a step in that direction and addresses some of the problems that have flummoxed experiments.
Source: Nature
Although this doesn't mean that they can clone human beings. The goal of stem cell research is towards finding cures to present day diseases. It does share the same research path as cloning a human but again, that's not the end goal. If embryos can be cloned then we can see personalized stem cells. And we can manufacture personalized treatment of patients for diseases. We'll never know though, a clone might come out of the stem cell research by mistake. Or a killer virus might come out?
Sounds like a bad zombie movie.
