Replicating studies done in Wisconsin and Japan, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, have taken skin cells and reprogrammed them to behave like embryonic stem cells without the use or destruction of human embryos.
Kathrin Plath, an assistant professor of biological chemistry at UCLA and lead author of the study, told the Daily Breeze that the laboratory cells created at UCLA were “virtually indistinguishable from human embryonic stem cells."
Dawn Vargo, associate bioethics analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said the results are encouraging.
"This provides a way for scientists to research embryonic-like stem cells without destroying human life," she said.
