Stem Cell Research

Isolation of Embryonic Stem Cells
For example, Embryonic stem cell lines derived from human blastocysts, Science 1998 Nov 6;282(5391):1145-7:


 * 1) culture human embryos to the blastocyst stage (100 cells or so)
 * 2) kill and strip off the outer trophoblastic cells
 * 3) culture the inner cell masses on irradiated mouse embryonic fibroblasts
 * 4) dissociate the inner cell masses into clumps of 50 to 100 cells with exposure to either an EDTA or dispase solution or mechanically with a micropipette

Creation of Human Embryos Specifically for Stem Cell Research
Researchers at Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine at the Eastern Virginia Medical School used eggs and sperm donated for the purpose of medical research to create 40 embryos to harvest their stem cells. They ended up with 3 stem cell lines at the end of the process.


 * "Use of human gametes obtained from anonymous donors for the production of human embryonic stem cell lines." Fertil Steril 2001 Jul;76(1):132-7.
 * Ottawa Citizen article
 * Reuters article, via USENET