The menu of cells that federally funded US researchers can work with is set to expand. (PDF) created from early-stage embryos to the list of eligible human embryonic stem cells (ESCs).
A year ago, US President Barack Obama relaxed previous limits on ESCs, prized for their potential to morph into any cell type. But the revisions covered only lines created from several-day-old blastocysts, not those from younger embryos, which, unlike older ESCs, can be obtained without destroying the embryo.
鈥淢y hat鈥檚 off to them for correcting things,鈥� says Robert Lanza. His firm, , hopes to use one such line in a trial of a treatment for macular degeneration. The NIH will accept public comments on the proposal for the next 30 days.
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