H/T to my Australian friend, Scottie! Hopefully the U.S. will advance this research soon!

The Patterson Bill gives Australian scientists an opportunity to fully explore every aspect of embryonic stem cell research. Significant work and progress has been made under the current law which allows for human embryonic stem cell research under licence.

The bill allows the introduction of somatic cell nuclear transfer, otherwise know as therapeutic cloning. This technology enables the development of human, disease’specific embryonic stem cell lines. How does this work, and why is it so valuable?

The process begins by taking the nucleus from a cell - for example, a skin or blood cell - of a patient who has a complex disease, such as Parkinson’s or leukaemia. This nucleus is then placed in an ovum which has had its nucleus removed. The environment of the egg helps form a blastocyst, which is an early’stage embryo containing a few hundred cells from which scientists can grow a human embryonic stem cell line that carries the trait of the disease. These cells may then be directed to form the relevant cell types of the disease under investigation.

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