Word: eggan
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Assistant Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology Kevin C. Eggan expressed frustration at a major stem cell conference on Tuesday about a Massachussetts law that creates roadblocks to medical research. Eggan lamented a state policy that limits access to human eggs by forbidding researchers from compensating women for egg donation. Since its inception in 2004, the Harvard Stem Cell Institute has not obtained a single egg from an eligible donor. Eggan left town immediately after the conference ended yesterday and could not be reached for additional comment. B.D. Colen, Harvard’s senior communications officer for University science, said...
...same, and with a few modifications, the scientists hope to have similar success with human cells. "It's likely to be the case that since this discovery is based on such fundamental cell biology principles, that the overarching rules [for mouse and human cells] are the same," says Eggan. "There are subtleties in human embryology that make human development different, but it should work...
...first gene discovered to cause cancer in mice. "Figuring out how to reprogram cells without directly exposing the cell to the cancer-causing effects of these genes is a major area of scientific activity, and would have to occur before we could consider using similar factor in humans," says Eggan...
...meantime, Eggan's group has provided an alternative method for generating customized stem cells that would take advantage of the early-stage embryos frozen in IVF centers around the country. The most reliable way of generating patient-specific stem cells remains nuclear transfer-taking the nucleus from a patient's skin cell and inserting it into an egg that has had its nucleus removed. This hybrid then begins to divide, and within a few days, generates stem cells that are genetically identical to the patient. The problem, however, as Eggan puts it, is that "there are never any extra unfertilized...
...Eggan's group has found, astonishingly, that one-celled zygotes, or fertilized embryos that are on the verge of making their first cell division, can act just like the emptied-out egg in the nuclear transfer process. And because more of these zygotes are available than eggs, it may give patients another way of obtaining customized stem cells. In fact, notes Eggan, there may be even more such zygotes available if you count the abnormally fertilized embryos that IVF clinicians discard immediately. Anywhere from 3% to 10% of IVF embryos get either too many or too few chromosomes when they...