A dozen lambs, expected to be born within the next week, could some day play a key role in finding a cure for Parkinson's disease. Click here to find out. Eventually, they hope to use a similar process on humans once they have perfected it in sheep. The cloning technology is a little bit more efficient than it is with laboratory species, so they have an important job to play.
Therapeutic cloning involves embryonic stem cells.
Those cells have not developed to the point of having a specific function, so researchers can develop tailor-made tissue to replace dead or diseased cells with new, healthy ones. Scientists contend that such cells could help treat diabetes, AIDS, cancer, Parkinson's Alzheimer's disease. Scientists at the University of Adelaide in Australia have successfully used that technique to integrate healthy cells in the brains of newborn rats. Australian restrictions on human embryos have led scientists to import embryos discarded from U.S. in vitro fertilization programs for their research. But they do not intend to continue to rely on imported embryos.