[lyka_candelario]

The CEO keeps repeating three terms here that would be nice to define so we can have a clearer picture of what the argument is all about.

First, he discusses about Parthenogenesis. This term originated from the Greeks, with parthenos meaning “virgin”, and the word genesis for “birth”. Human parthenogenic stem cells are created by a chemical stimulation of the unfertilized female egg to begin division. Such eggs are never fertilized.

Secondly, somatic-cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) was also mentioned, which is a laboratory process for the creation of a clone embryo having a donor nucleus. It involves the transferring of a cell nucleus from an adult cell into an unfertilized developing cell or oocyte.

Lastly, the term embryonic stem cell was also presented wherein such cells are taken from the inner cell of an early stage embryo, called a blastocyst. Such embryo appears 4-5 days after fertilization.

These three terms are used in the field of regenerative medicine to manage if not cure degenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, Liver Disease, Macular Degeneration, Alzheimer’s and more.

CEO Ken Aldrich aims to defend their research about parthenogenesis as being more beneficial as comparing to others, since the parthenogenic:

a) cells used can convert to almost any cell in the human body;
b) cells used are not fertilized and cannot turn into a human being, thus, having no ethical issues about harming or destroying a life;
c) cells used do not need any genetic manipulation nor foreign DNA insertion ;
d) process follows transparent, medically supervised, and ethically regulated techniques;
e) cell lines used can have a million human matches, speeding up disease treatments;
f) cell lines used generally cost lesser than SCNT and embryonic stem cells considering the matches it can make, compared to only a few persons both the latter can match.

He admits he can sound biased as he is one of the founders of such study, but it’s also good to know that there are benefits of a less expensive research.

I read more about Dolly, the clone sheep, and spotted a few interesting info about her:

Dolly, the first ever cloned animal, was born on July 5, 1996. She was euthanized when she was six due to her severe arthritis and progressive lung disease. Since sheep her kind have a life expectancy of 11-12 years, some scientists believe that she was born having the genetic age of six years. They believe so because the mother in which she was cloned to was six years of age and had a chromosome showing the aged process. Other than that, Dolly was also cloned from a cell in a mammary gland.