tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10381465.post114688701742432502..comments2009-07-16T06:03:38.615-07:00Wesley J. Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00087063614354714652wjs@wesleyjsmith.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10381465.post-1147050985692086222006-05-07T18:16:00.000-07:002006-05-07T18:16:00.000-07:00You should contact Hurlbut. He can give you more about the science than I can. But people I trust believe this is a potentially doable procedure. Plus, that particular manipulation is not the only one being contemplated.<BR/><BR/>Again. Let's see what the animals studies show and then decide. There is no need to make the decision now since no human studies are yet contemplated.Wesley J. Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00087063614354714652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10381465.post-1147039278551068082006-05-07T15:01:00.000-07:002006-05-07T15:01:00.000-07:00Unless I'm understanding things incorrectly ANT and SCNT are identical save for the insertion of what appears to be a piece of siRNA to block the Cdx2 gene. Dr Jaenisch asserts that the cell lines created are identical in every other way to blastocysts created with SCNT. I still fail to how silencing a single gene is going to improve the stark inefficency of the process. <BR/><BR/>Dr Hwang used 2000+ eggs to no avail. This issue is one that you have detailed at length in your columns in The Weekly Standard. I would assume given that fact Dr Hurlbut would have developed a response for it. I can find none as of yet.Tannahuserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00721081663204476753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10381465.post-1147033075384565362006-05-07T13:17:00.000-07:002006-05-07T13:17:00.000-07:00The research is still in the animal stage and is ongoing. We will only be able to tell the tale when that process is complete.Wesley J. Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00087063614354714652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10381465.post-1146970943347835152006-05-06T20:02:00.000-07:002006-05-06T20:02:00.000-07:00I looked up ANT and setting aside it's ethical considerations it still stumbles into the conundrum associated with egg procurement and for that reason alone will prove to be a less than fruitful endeavor. I cannot attest to whether the ethical considerations with ANT are any different then with SCNT as I haven't had the opportunity to examine it beyond a letter by Rudolf Jaenisch to Nature.<BR/><BR/>I do support more research funding for stem cell related therapies. I don't see how anything will come ANT or SCNT for the same reasons.Tannahuserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00721081663204476753noreply@blogger.com