• printer friendly
• mail this article
• iPod format
• digg

See how the new Lanza method works in an interactive graphic

Scientists say they have discovered a way to harvest stem cells without destroying human embryos, but university officials said it is too early to know whether the new method will make its way into UCLA labs.

Dr. Robert Lanza, vice president of Advanced Cell Technology, and a team of biologists used embryos created through in vitro fertilization to derive stem cells at an earlier stage of development than usual. Lanza and his team harvested one cell from each embryo after the embryo was two days old and had divided into eight cells called blastomeres.

Usually, scientists wait longer to harvest embryonic stem cells, until the embryo has divided into about 150 cells. This type of harvesting destroys the embryo. But harvesting stem cells from earlier-stage blastomeres, as Lanza did, apparently does not harm the embryo, scientists said.

In clinical in vitro fertilization, where an embryo is created outside the mother’s womb and later implanted, doctors often remove two blastomeres to check for genetic diseases like Down’s Syndrome.

Though removing blastomeres for genetic testing does not appear to affect life after birth, no tests have been conducted on the long-term effects of Lanza’s technique.

According to The New York Times, Lanza said his team’s new technique would make it nearly impossible to oppose this kind of research, since embryos are no longer being harmed in the process.

But some university officials said the method could still be contentious.

“I don’t think it will completely eliminate controversy,” said Russell Korobkin, a UCLA law professor and a senior fellow at UCLA’s Center for Society and Genetics. “It’s hard to have a 100 percent success rate. (This method) would almost certainly put the embryo in substantial danger.”

Currently, laws prevent the federal government from funding any stem cell research that harms human embryos.

However, California voters in December passed Proposition 71, a law that could provide state funding for stem cell research such as Lanza’s method.

Steve Peckman, associate director of UCLA’s Institute for Stem Cell Biology, said it is possible that UCLA researchers interested in using the Lanza method may turn to state funding.

“We’re interested (in the technique), but it’s hard to tell at this point,” he said. “It’s a viable option.”

But Peckman added that there are logistic as well as ethical barriers that stand in the way of Lanza’s method being adopted at UCLA.

“It’s something that could be tried now in UCLA labs, but it’s a lot of work,” he said. “It’s easier to get stem cells from stored cells.”

The federal government still funds research on stem cells that were derived before Aug. 9, 2001. Korobkin said there are also other practical issues. For example, there have been no long-term studies on the effects of removing one cell from a person at early stages of development.

Though President Bush has so far remained silent on the new technique, Korobkin said he thought the advent of a method of harvesting embryonic stem cells without destroying human embryos could prompt some changes in the political sphere.

“It might give the Bush administration some cover for changing its increasingly unpopular position (against experimenting on human embryonic stem cells),” he said.