Beemouse Laboratories

From Nature Biotechnology 26, 721 (2008) News:

UK passes hybrids
Nuala Moran

The UK Parliament has voted to allow the generation of human-animal hybrid embryos, creating the most liberal legal framework anywhere in the world for embryonic stem cell research. The move confirms that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority acted within its jurisdiction when it gave permission in January to scientists at King’s College London and Newcastle University to work on generating embryos by fusing enucleated animal oocytes with the nuclei of adult human cells (Nat. Biotechnol. 26, 252, 2008). Embryonic stem cell lines produced as a result cannot be used in therapies but are expected to be useful as disease models. One immediate beneficiary was ReNeuron, of Surrey, UK, which saw its share price double, although its products are based on fetal stem cell lines. CEO Michael Hunt said, “Our hope is that the UK’s reputation for supporting such pioneering early-stage stem cell research will be mirrored by further support for later-stage translational research activities.” In Germany, researchers no longer have to fear a possible prison sentence for working on human embryonic stem cell lines created after January 2002. The German Federal Parliament voted in April to allow scientists to use up to 500 stem cell lines from abroad, as opposed to the 20 previously allowed, extending the qualifying date for importing lines to May 1, 2007. Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled in May that scientists can lawfully conduct embryonic stem cell research, subject to certain caveats, such as not allowing the embryo to be destroyed.

For some reason this scares the pee out of me and is also highly intriguing. I honestly didn’t even know that people were working on human-animal hybrid embryos. Another sign that we may be catching up to the Future.