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Scientists Clone Human Embryos To Make Stem Cells

cyachallenge writes "Scientists say they have, for the first time, cloned human embryos capable of producing embryonic stem cells. 'We had to find the perfect combination,' Mitalipov says. As it turned out, that perfect combination included something surprising: caffeine. That ingredient, plus other tweaks in the process, including using fresh eggs and determining the optimal stage of each egg's development, Mitalipov says."

19 of 92 comments (clear)

  1. Breakfast? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "using fresh eggs and caffeine"

    Sounds more like making breakfast than human cloning.

  2. It is by caffeine alone I set my cells in motion by sehlat · · Score: 3, Funny

    It is by the juice of java that cells acquire speed
    The body begins to grow
    The growth becomes a forming.
    It is by caffeine alone I set my cells in motion

  3. Re:As we always suspected: by viperidaenz · · Score: 2

    unless you're an incest, then caffeine == death

  4. Re:It is by caffeine alone I set my cells in motio by cyachallenge · · Score: 2

    The java must flow!

  5. Re:As we always suspected: by viperidaenz · · Score: 5, Funny

    insect...
    I've been watching too much game of thrones.

  6. Adult human skin cells by harlequinn · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Slashdot headline neglected to mention that they synthesised an embryo from adult human skin cells - so it's 100% genetically compatible with the donor.

    1. Re:Adult human skin cells by Rich0 · · Score: 2

      That would be a major omission. I was wondering how cloning an embryo would be news.

      I'm sure it isn't done every day of the week due to the ethical concerns, but I couldn't see how cloning embryos would present any difficulty at all. You basically just have to pluck a cell off of it and you're done as long as it is done before differentiation. if you chop an embryo in two you end up with identical twins, which is exactly how it happens naturally.

      Cloning an embryo from an adult cell (especially a skin cell) is DEFINITELY news. I figured it was just a matter of time - again the ethical issues are the biggest obstacle to doing it considering that we can already clone other mammals.

    2. Re:Adult human skin cells by SuricouRaven · · Score: 2

      Mostly. There is still an issue with yield - almost all of the embryos cloned will die soon after. Everyone remembers Dolly, no-one really notices the hundreds of other sheep clones that didn't survive. Primate yields are a lot lower - for some yet-unknown reason their embryos are exceptionally delicate. It's a problem with human cloneing, because human eggs are expensive - the only way to get them is to pump a woman full of hormones to induce many ovulations at once. A very unpleasant experience for the woman.

    3. Re:Adult human skin cells by Big+Hairy+Ian · · Score: 2

      What the summary also neglected to point out is that we've been cloning Embryonic Stem Cells for over five years all they are doing is making it more reliable and retaining 100% compatibility with the donor (Something they had issues with previously)

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  7. Wonder how they figured to use caffeine? by Nyder · · Score: 3, Funny

    Was it a "oops" moment when one of the scientist knocked some of his coffee into a sample?

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  8. A cloned embryo is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... just as much of a person as an embryo is.

    So if one has any sort of ethical dilemma with harvesting stem cells from embryos under the notion that such willful destruction of embryos is equivalent to premeditated homicide, this particular technique shouldn't make those people breathe any easier, and in fact, may be cause for them to scream even more outrage at the notion that, to use words they might throw around, "they are creating even more people to deliberately murder".

    1. Re:A cloned embryo is... by ideadman · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The Slashdot headline neglected to mention that they synthesized an embryo from adult human skin cells........

    2. Re:A cloned embryo is... by SuricouRaven · · Score: 2

      There are two problems with that standard:

      1. Rodents react to pain too. For you standard to work you need to declare that humans are 'special' without specifying exactly why this is the case. That, or declare rat poison a weapon of mess destruction.

      2. It's subjective enough that the definition can be twisted for political ends.

  9. Bacon. by m1ndcrash · · Score: 2

    I bet if they added bacon the cloning process would go better!

  10. Re:Great by Musc · · Score: 3, Insightful

    > My qualm with cloning is that it involves wiping the genetic from the egg (thus destroying that potential individual) and populating it with the desired genetic code.

    Your qualm is that the genetic material from an egg is destroyed?
    But doesn't this happen every month in a woman who isn't pregnant?

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  11. Oh so they're doing SCNT by NotSoHeavyD3 · · Score: 2

    Somatic Cell Nuclear transfer. Actually the nice thing about this is that if you had some genetic disease(like cystic fibrosis) you could take the genetic material out of one of your skin cells, correct it, and then use that with this process to make an embryo. If at some point humanity figured out how to grow an organ from this embryo then you could try to make a lung with this that didn't have cystic fibrosis but you wouldn't reject either.

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  12. Re:A cloned embryo is... AND another ethical qu by pnutjam · · Score: 2

    Here's a questions someone might be able to answer. If a woman has all her eggs when she is born, why are we harvesting them from living women, why aren't cadaverous eggs a viable solution? One body donated to science could yield thousands of eggs?

  13. Bob by NotFamous · · Score: 2

    Bobby was right, "Evrahbahdy muss git clohhned!"

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  14. Re:Great by N0Man74 · · Score: 2

    My qualm with cloning is that it involves wiping the genetic from the egg (thus destroying that potential individual) and populating it with the desired genetic code.

    Won't someone think of the sperm? Millions of those guys die even when there is a successful pregnancy!

    Surely you must be upset about the million of potential individuals being destroyed there!