Scientists at the University of Connecticut’s Stem Cell Core laboratory have created two new human embryonic stem cell lines and are making them available to other academic researchers for their study of the cell’s therapeutic potential.
A news conference scheduled for 1:30 p.m. today at the Legislative Office Building to announce the venture was cancelled due to snow.
UConn joins an elite group of universities with labs that have created human embryonic stem cell lines, but the new Connecticut lines are younger – a highly prized characteristic – than other lines currently being used for research, the university said.
AÂ handful of universities are engaged in efforts to create, characterize and distribute new human embryonic stem cell lines for research and therapeutic purposes.
Embryonic stem cells have the ability to become any type of cell in the body. If scientists are able to control them, they could be used to replace cells damaged by injury or disease.
Established after the Legislature and Rell set aside $100 million for embryonic and adult stem cell training and research programs at Connecticut universities, the core facility is already culturing, testing and banking stem cell lines approved by the National Institutes of Health for research as well as federally unapproved stem cell lines.
Since launching the state’s stem cell program, Connecticut has distributed a total of $29.62 million of funding that is supporting some 70 research labs at UConn and its Health Center, Yale and Wesleyan.
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