University of Michigan embryonic stem cell line accepted for federal registry

(The photo caption in this story has been updated.)

The University of Michigan announced today that the National Institutes of Health had accepted U-M's first human embryonic stem cell line for its national registry.

The news means the cells can be used in federally funded research, U-M said.

Sue O’Shea, a U-M professor of cell and developmental Biology and co-director of the Consortium for Stem Cell Therapies, examines stem cells at a laboratory.

File photo | AnnArbor.com

The stem cell line was created "from a cluster of about 30 cells removed from a donated five-day-old embryo roughly the size of the period at the end of this sentence," according to a news release. The embryo "was created for reproduction but was no longer needed for that purpose and was therefore about to be discarded," U-M said.

“We expect these cells will be used by investigators worldwide to enhance our understanding of stem cell biology, and together with disease-specific lines, discover treatments and cures for genetic diseases,” said Gary Smith, a U-M Medical School professor who derived the line and serves as co-director of the U-M Consortium for Stem Cell Therapies in the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute, in a statement.

NIH's registry currently has 147 embryonic stem cell lines.

U-M researchers are also developing several other embryonic stem cell lines — including two that have already been submitted to the NIH for consideration.

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