When it comes to people, said Dr. Hsieh, it might be similarly effective to give the therapy in the first week after a heart attack, when stem-cell activity is highest.

WSJ: Nanotechnology Holds Promise for Heart Patients

And they would like to come up with a way of finding an ethical way out, essentially, that would give the scientists what they need to develop the kinds of therapies that might come from embryonic stem cells or their equivalent without the moral baggage.

NPR: Ethical Guidelines for Stem Cell Research Proposed

Then there's a completely new idea, which is to generate a kind of a cell that you would merge with a kind of an egg, and you'd get something that was kind of an embryo but it wasn't really an embryo, and it wouldn't have the potential to grow into anything, and maybe those would give rise to stem cells.

NPR: Ethical Guidelines for Stem Cell Research Proposed

In recent months, the U.S. Patent Office has put into motion proceedings that could lead key patents on embryonic stem cells to be struck down, meaning that companies that do research on the cells would not give up a share of future profits on their inventions.

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