Earlier this month, scientists used skin cells to clone embryonic stem cells in the first experiment to do so. Now for the second time this month, another group of scientists used cloning technology to make human embryonic stem cells.

The work was published today in the journal Nature and was conducted by researchers at the New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF). Led by Dieter Egli, the researchers were able to clone embryonic stem cells that used DNA from a 32-year-old woman with Type-1 Diabetes, which is a major breakthrough in terms of being able to fight disease.

The first successful study of this nature cloned embryonic stem cells using skin cells from two men aged 35 and 75 years. Robert Lanza, one of the scientists involved in that study, believed that the age difference in the cell cloning was crucial in dealing with various diseases that become more common as one’s age progresses. Their finding was a precursor to the New York Stem Cell Foundation’s finding.

Dr. Egli and his team used the technique called somatic cell nuclear transfer, in which the nucleus is removed from a normal cell as well as a human egg cell, and then the nucleus from the skin […]