South Korean scientists have cloned the world's first mature embryonic stem-cell line, in what is seen as a breakthrough toward developing new methods of treating a wide range of degenerative ailments, a US science group reported.
But the controversial experiment announced on Wednesday is also likely to raise new concerns about cloning human beings.
"Because these cells carry the nuclear genome of the individual, after differentiation they could be expected to be transplanted without immune rejection for treatment of degenerative disorders," said Woo Suk-hwang of Seoul National University, the lead researcher on the project.
"Our approach opens the door for the use of these specially developed cells in transplantation medicine," he said in a statement released by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
A summary of the study made public by the association said Woo and a group of other South Korean scientists were able to produce versatile and "pluripotent" stem cells by taking part of a non-reproductive cell from women and transplanting it into the women's eggs.
Blastocysts, or precursors to fetuses, produced through this transfer created a cell mass that was used to harvest well-developed embryonic stem cells, according to the document.
The method was used to develop a whole human embryonic stem-cell line, using a total of 242 eggs collected from 16 women, all unpaid volunteers.
These eggs made it possible to grow a total of 30 blastocysts and obtain 20 suitable inner-cell masses, the report said.
The resulting stem cells differentiated into all the main tissue types that appear in the early stages of human development, the researchers said.
When transplanted into mice, the stem cells differentiated into still more specific cell types, offering further proof of pluripotency, they noted.
The key to their success, the researchers believe, lay in using extremely fresh donor eggs, following stringent timing protocols and a special method of extracting DNA from eggs.
The approach has been previously used to generate cells from mice, but up to now, nobody had been successful in applying it to humans, US scientists said.
Experts said the South Korean experiment may represent a major step toward developing new cures for severe and chronic ailments such as diabetes, osteoarthritis, Parkinson's disease and others.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
‘WORLD’S LOSS’: Taiwan’s exclusion robs the world of the benefits it could get from one of the foremost practitioners of disease prevention and public health, Minister Chiu said Taiwan should be allowed to join the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an irreplaceable contributor to global health and disease prevention efforts, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. He made the comment at a news conference in Taipei, hours before a Taiwanese delegation was to depart for Geneva, Switzerland, seeking to meet with foreign representatives for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the WHA, the WHO’s annual decisionmaking meeting, which would be held from Monday next week to May 27. As of yesterday, Taiwan had yet to receive an invitation. Taiwan has much to offer to the international community’s
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
RSS