Scientists Create Mice from Reprogrammed Skin Cells
Chinese research bypasses the need for controversial embryonic stem cells Chinese scientists have created live mice from mature skin cells that had reverted to an embryonic-like state. The scientific success could further defuse controversy over harvesting embryonic stem cells, but also raises new ethical issues about potentially making clones selected for specific traits. Reprogramming stem cells has become popular over recent years, because it avoids the cloning or embryo-destruction techniques which have traditionally been used by scientists to create embryonic stem-cell lines. The Chinese experiments now prove that reprogrammed adult stem cells can be made to create live offspring with normal bodies, at least in mice. Two Chinese teams injected the reprogrammed mouse cells into a mouse embryo. They ended up with 37 reprogrammed stem-cell lines, which eventually led to 27 live offspring. One mouse pup went on to have offspring of its own by...