Stemagen is a corporation headed by Dr. Samuel Wood. It is notable for cloning adult skin cells.Ricks, Delthia Scientists make human embryo clone newsday.comPrinewswire Stemagen First to Create Cloned Human Embryos From Adult Cells Jan. 17, 2008 Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News
In January 2008, Dr. Andrew French, Stemagen's chief scientific officer and Wood in California, announced that they successfully created the first 5 mature human embryos using DNA from adult skin cells, aiming to provide a less-controversial source of viable embryonic stem cells.Somers, Terri Biotech Stemagen fused skin and egg to clone embryo The San Diego Union-Tribune, January 18, 2008 Dr. Wood and a colleague donated skin cells, and DNA from those cells was transferred to human eggs. It is not clear if the embryos produced would have been capable of further development, but Dr. Wood stated that if that were possible, using the technology for reproductive cloning would be both unethical and illegal. The 5 cloned embryos, created in Stemagen Corporation lab, in La Jolla, were later destroyed to confirm the nuclear transfer process.Weiss, Rick Mature Human Embryos Created From Adult Skin Cells Washingtonpost.com
Dr. French, lead author, and five other researchers published their findings in the online research journal Stem Cells, in an article entitled Development of human cloned blastocysts following somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) with adult fibroblasts.French, Andrew J., Cathrine A. Adams et al. Development of human cloned blastocysts following somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) with adult fibroblasts Stem Cells published by AlphaMed Press 2008 Feb;26(2):485-93. Epub 2008 January 17, 2008.
See also Dr. Samuel Wood Human cloning
References
External links
Official website