Human-Cow Embryos - A New Creation?

Have it ever crossed your mind that we are able to create a new type of embryos, just by using the stem cells of human cells and the egg cells of cows? Well the BRITISH researchers said they have!

I don't know what most of you guys think about this, but for one thing for sure, this is surely weird! The experts of Newcastle University have inserted human DNA into the egg cells of the cattle, which they have hollowed out in order to create a growing embryo. Thus, they try to get the embryonic stem cells by taken it apart.

So what's the point of doing this? Well the other experts believed this is just the first step of understanding the biology of embryonic stem cells. John Burn, the Head of the Institute of Human Genetics at Newcastle University said "If the team can produce cells which will survive in culture it will open the door to a better understanding of disease processes without having to use precious human eggs."


So therefore, in order to have excess number of stem cells, without using human eggs, the researchers are trying to figure a new placement for the human eggs to continue their further research of stem cells, which their original aim is to find a regenerative medicine, which doctors hope for eventual treatments for spinal cord injuries, and diseases such as diabetes and even cancer.

However, there is always ethical issues in regards to using stem cells, like the destruction of human embryos and which the embryos must be treated with dignity, "This is one of the most controversial ethical issues in all of cloning and stem cell research," said Arthur Caplan, director of the Centre for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania.

This type of research is not the first, for example, in 2004, the Chinese researchers have said that they had created embryos by putting human DNA into a rabbit cell.

However, therefore, experts are trying their best by going into various approaches in order to understand the biology of embryonic stem cells.

But like I have said, its too weird to create human-animal embryos in the first place!

REFERENCES:
Article;
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23476502-5011761,00.html
Image;
http://www.worth1000.com/entries/168500/168545dIkH_w.jpg


By David Truong 41180893