145;Virgin146; birth stem cells may offer tissue bank

The team at California-based International Stem Cell Corp hopes to create a bank of tissue-matched stem cells that could be used as transplants that a patient8217;s immune system would accept.

8220;The process is efficient, it is relatively safe and it is ethically sound,8221; Jeffrey Janus, president and director of research at the company, said in a telephone interview. The cells are created by a process known as parthenogenesis, a word that comes from Latin and Greek roots meaning virgin beginning.

It involves chemically tricking an egg into developing without being fertilised by sperm.

Writing in the journal Cloning 038; Stem Cells, Janus and colleagues say they have created four lines, or batches, of stem cells that have specific immune properties. The closer the match, the less likely a transplant will be rejected.