Stem Cells Taken From Cloned Monkeys

Researchers at Oregon Health and Science University and the Oregon National Primate Research Center report today that they have extracted stem cells from cloned monkey embryos. The results are being reported in Nature. Should this research be replicated, then it will be a scientific breakthrough and will also open up a huge can of worms around whether you could do the same thing with human embryos, whether you would want to, and would the government have to pay for such research. And so on.

The implications for mental health research and neuroscience are a bit down the road, but they are huge in all directions.

OHSU has been the forefront of the monkey cloning business for years, especially due to the work of Don Wolfe and Gerry Schatten (now at Pitt), whom I wrote about eons ago.

It's not all a good news day for OHSU and the primate center: PETA is on their ass over various allegations of mistreatment of research monkeys, which echo allegations made about the center's monkeys in 2000 and 2001.

One assumes PETA has no position on cloned embryos.