Scientists
have successfully cloned the first human embryo from adult cells, and this
breakthrough could pave the way to personalized organ transplants as well as
other regenerative treatments based on stem cells that can be grown into any
type of human tissue.
Last
year, the world's first cloned human embryo was created when a team of
scientists used cells from a fetus and an 8-month-old infant. This new experiment
involved making a clone embryo from cells taken from adult men, ages 35 and 75,
by extracting the nucleus out of a cell and placing it in a donor egg without a
nucleus.
According
to Inhabitat, "Currently, stem cells can only be extracted from embryos
leftover from in vitro fertilization. The discovery could be used for future
organ transplants but it's still far from leading to human cloning. Instead,
the new cell cloning technology could be the basis of growing personalized stem
cells. Although exciting, the new breakthrough revisits the moral implications
and ethical dilemmas related to cloning."
