(sdunion-tribune) A team at the tiny San Diego biotechnology company Stemagen has become the first to document its successful cloning of human embryos by fusing donated egg cells with the DNA from skin cells of an adult man, according to an article that will be published online today by the journal Stem Cells. The company's work, led by chief science officer Andrew French, is a major step toward creating embryonic stem cell lines from cloned human embryos, or cells that are specific to one person and capable of evolving into the 200 different cell types in the body. Theoretically such cells one day could be used as a human toolbox: Someone's own embryonic stem cells could be transplanted into that person without the fear of rejection and could replace cells destroyed by diseases such as diabetes and Parkinson's. The process, known as therapeutic cloning, has plenty of opponents because the embryo theoretically could be implanted into a woman's uterus for reproduction. Reproductive cloning is illegal in California, and Stemagen said it stuck to a research protocol that met all current medical and ethical standards. The company's team was giddy with the excitement of finally sharing their accomplishment.

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