Word: wisconsin
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...sources of cells, however, were not human beings in a legal sense. The Johns Hopkins researchers took theirs from fetuses that had been aborted early in pregnancy. The Wisconsin group used blastocysts, clusters of about 140 cells that develop within a week after fertilization. (They were donated by couples who had extra blastocysts left over from in-vitro fertilization.) The scientists, however, were hardly indifferent to ethical concerns. At Johns Hopkins, for example, it took nearly four years of testimony in front of scientific and ethical review panels before the work could even begin. Says team leader John Gearhart...
...Wisconsin group, whose announcement appears in the current Science, went even farther. Its stem cells can evidently survive indefinitely. The researchers have also coaxed them to take the next step and differentiate into neural, gut, muscle and bone cells. "It's an important first step," says developmental biologist James Thomson, who led the Wisconsin team. National Institutes of Health director Harold Varmus pronounced the potential applications of the Wisconsin work "tremendous...
...potential controversy, however, is equally tremendous. It is illegal to use federal money for research that involves human embryos--leading both the Johns Hopkins and Wisconsin groups to seek funding from Geron Corp., a biotech firm based in Menlo Park, Calif. But staying within the letter of the law has not saved the scientists from attack. Biotechnology critic Jeremy Rifkin petitioned Congress last week to ban all privately funded research into embryonic stem cells so that there can be a "full investigation of the profound long-term social and ethical implications of the technology." Right-to-life activists chimed...
Another key question is whether scientists can learn to guide stem cells into specific paths of development. Although the Wisconsin group managed to get its cells to differentiate, the scientists had no control over what the cells turned into...
...answers into useful therapies is a daunting undertaking that could keep scores of scientists busy for years. Unfortunately, Geron's pockets are not bottomless, and the traditional source of funding is unavailable. In order to inoculate themselves against charges of violating a federal directive, the Johns Hopkins and Wisconsin scientists had to declare that no federal funds were used in their work. The Wisconsin group went so far as to set up a separate lab so federally funded equipment would not be "contaminated...