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Japanese Researchers Makes First Domestic hESC Line
Tuesday,
03 June 2003, 08:50PM CET
Researchers in Japan have
produced their first domestic human embryonic stem cell (hESC) line. Professor
Norio Nakatsuji, of the Institute
for Frontier Medical Sciences in Kyoto, told CellNEWS
in an exclusive interview that his group had succeeded to isolate hESC’s
from one single donated frozen human embryo. Establishing stem cell lines
in Japan is important, Prof. Nakatsuji said, so that the cell’s quality and
preparation for future clinical application can be assured under Japanese
government guidelines.
Read the full article here: Isolation of the first domestic hESC line in Japan.
Japan's Stem Cell Research
Thursday,
29 August, 2002, 11:19PM CET
In the spring of 2002, two major initiatives were taken in Japan to create
centres that will work with and advance the stem cell research in the
country, one at Kyoto University
and the other at the RIKEN Institute
facility in Kobe.
At Kyoto University a plan to create embryonic stem cells from fertilised
eggs left unused from fertility treatment was approved in late March by a
government panel. The approval was the first in Japan related to research
on human embryonic stem cells and will allow researchers to enter
regenerative medicine race using domestically produced stem cell lines.
The researchers will be required to establish medical ethics principles for
conducting such research using human eggs and embryos.
The government panel under the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports,
Science and Technology approved the plan submitted by a group of
researchers headed by Norio Nakatsuji,
a professor at the Institute for Frontier Medical
Science at Kyoto University. Nakatsuji is earlier known for the
study of monkey stem cells.
If the research goes as planned, embryonic stem cells should be created
within this year, the doctors say.
The researchers hope to obtain the necessary fertilised eggs not only from Kyoto
University Hospital but also from Toyohashi Municipal Hospital in Aichi
Prefecture and Keio University in Tokyo, which are known for infertility
treatment.
The second initiative was announce in May, at the opening of the new Center for Developmental Biology
(CDB) in Kobe — an initiative of RIKEN,
Japan's Institute of Physical and Chemical Research. Furthermore,
researchers at a new RIKEN Institute said an US-based cloning pioneer, Teruhiko
Wakayama, would arrive soon. Wakayama, who cloned the first mouse
in 1997, Cumulina, will leave the US during the summer to set up his new
lab at the CDB. There he will study processes by which transferring a
nucleus from one cell to an egg cell triggers its reprogramming.
Moving with him will be Tony Perry,
his former colleague from Advanced
Cell Technology in Worcester, Maryland, who will set up his own lab
next door to look at the very earliest molecular events that take place
after fertilisation.
Of the CDB's seven core programs, the emphasis will be very much on basic
science. Six of the 28 groups or team leaders are medically trained, and
the CDB will co-operate closely with the medical centre next door, the Institute of
Biomedical Research and Innovation (IBRI). Attracting these two
stem cell researchers to Japan is an achievement for the CDB.
Both these events will improve greatly the capacity in Japan for stem cell
research. However, the CDB's funding, part of Japan's Millennium program
which set aside $900 million for scientific initiatives, is only guaranteed
until 2005 when it will be re-evaluated. Some critics have expressed fears
that the government's short-term goals will hold back research. The next
few years will prove crucial what role Japan will get in stem cell
research, but the current signs are promising.
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