Scientists have been claiming for some time now that it was only a matter of time before they found a way to harvest stem cells without destroying the embryo.

Now, it looks like Dr. Robert Lanza and his team at Advanced Cell Technology in Worcester, Mass. have found a way to do so. They presented their findings in the August 24 issue of Nature.

“The approach described here does not involve the destruction of an embryo, nor does the biopsied cell ever develop into an embryo at any point. Therefore, we hope this method can be used to increase the number of stem cell lines available for federal funding - and thus give the field a badly needed jump-start,” Lanza said. “But I guess we’ll have to see what the President and Congress have to say about it all.”

Interestingly, they did it by using stem cells at the 8-10 cell stage (days 2-3), rather than the 4-5 day old blastocyst, which contains a few hundred. At the earlier stage, none of the cells have differentiated, while at 4-5 days, you start to see differentiation between the inner cell mass (ICM) and the trophoblast, the part that will eventually go on to form the placenta.

Perhaps now, the President may reconsider his veto and support federal funding of stem cell research.