Ethical Embyronic Stem Cells
Wired has an interesting article on a proposal of a new way to create pluripotent embryonic stem cells that may circumvent the ethical issues raised with the normal method (which destroys a viable embryo.)
The proof is projected on the screen. The x-ray shows a teratoma, a naturally occurring tumor that grows from an egg or sperm cell. Like an embryo, a teratoma produces stem cells. But the teratoma does not have the right balance of gene expression to create a fully integrated organism. So it grows into a dense ball of teeth, hair, and skin, a ghastly grab bag of organs like some randomly constructed Frankenstein. Hurlbut points to the x-ray. “They’re about the ugliest thing in medicine,” he says, “but they might offer us a solution to our stem cell dilemma.”
Go read the whole thing.
