(Via Genetic Engineering News). Advanced Cell Technology (ACT), now funded again, is refining the technology and capabilities of stem cell research. Most of the press has focused on entirely the wrong part of this research: "We have shown in a mouse model that you can generate embryonic stem cells using a method that does not interfere with the developmental potential of the embryo." The more important story here is the advances in basic technology and degree of control that enable this sort of work: "In the past, stem cell lines have been isolated from the inner cell mass of blastocysts and in a few instances, from earlier, cleavage-stage embryos. We generated five [embryonic] and seven trophoblast stem (TS) cell lines from single mouse embryo cells. The stem cells were able to generate all the cell types of body, including nerve cells, bone, and beating heart." This year ACT, next year all the leading research groups.

Link: http://www.genengnews.com/news/bnitem.aspx?name=1080009XSL_NEWSML_TO_NEWSML_WEB.xml