Stem cell lessons
Five years after first gaining institutional permission to attempt to produce stem cell lines via somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), two Harvard researchers and a former Harvard postdoctoral fellow have closed the loop with a flurry of new studies and a commentary. In papers in Nature, Nature Communications, and Cell Stem Cell, the researchers report the first creation of a stem cell line containing a patient’s genome using SCNT; an experiment explaining why other attempts at SCNT have been unsuccessful; and a commentary reporting that it is impractical if not impossible to recruit ova donors without paying them. Ironically, all three reports serve to underscore how astoundingly fast the field of stem cell science has advanced since 2006, when it looked as though SCNT provided the only path to the creation of disease-specific stem cell lines from patients. These stem cell lines might then be used for studying disease development, for transplanting to treat diseases, and as targets for...