Thursday, July 13, 2006

Findings "Live Mice Made Using Stem Cells"

Washington Post

Wednesday, July 12, 2006; Page A06

"In a step that could help lead to new treatments for infertility, scientists produced live mice by using sperm-like cells derived from embryonic stem cells.

Seven mice resulted from the work, with six reaching adulthood. However, the animals were unusually small or large and died within five months of birth, apparently because they lacked normal controls over gene activity.

Still, the work establishes a method for learning more about how sperm is formed and perhaps for finding new treatments for male infertility, researchers said.

Scientists must learn more about the sperm production processto get to the basis of infertility, said the study's lead author, Karim Nayernia of the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in England.

The work is reported in this month's issue of the journal Developmental Cell."

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