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The expansion of national and international research efforts in stem cell research is increasingly paired with the trend of establishing stem cell banks and registries. In jurisdictions crossing the spectrum of restrictive to liberal stem cell policies, banks and registries are emerging as an essential resource for transnational access to quality-controlled and ethically sourced stem cell lines. In this study, we report the preliminary findings of a survey of stem cell banks participating in the International Stem Cell Forum's International Stem Cell Banking Initiative (ISCBI). The questionnaire circulated to all ISCBI members addressed both general issues surrounding research policies (e.g., national policies regulating the permissibility of conducting embryonic stem cell research (hESCR)) and, more specifically, issues relating to the governance of stem cell banking projects. The results of the questionnaire were complemented by scholarly research conducted by the authors. This article provides an overview of the current international hESC banking landscape (I). For this purpose, the policy and governance approaches adopted in the surveyed stem cell banks at the national level will be analyzed and areas of convergence and variance will be identified (II). It is beyond the scope of this paper to provide a comprehensive analysis of the wide range of possible governance approaches, policy responses, and their implications. However, we want to provide a starting point for discussion surrounding key questions and challenges as concerns provenance, access, and deposit of hESC lines (III). Finally, while our analysis is focused on research grade hESCs, the lessons to be gleaned from this examination will encourage further thought, analysis, and research into the issues raised in the banking and governance of other sources of stem cell lines (e.g., SCNT, parthenogenesis, iPs) (IV).

It has been one year since Brazil passed a law enabling scientists to work with human embryonic stem cells and to derive new stem cell lines from human embryos. But several major hurdles have put human embryonic stem cell research on hold.

Senility may not be pleasant to look forward to, but consider the alternative. If we didn’t lose our health and vigor (not to mention our jobs) as we grew old, aging would be a pleasure. We often don’t know enough to take full advantage of opportunities when they first appear; with time, we accumulate wisdom and perspective. Especially for creative and valuable people, life becomes a race between increasing wisdom and ability vs. declining health and capability — a race that mankind usually loses. These facts define a major goal for researchers in biological aging: to maintain optimal health, even though people get old.

The search for a role of carbohydrates in mammalian development has been long hampered by the minute amounts of material available. Recently, the establishment of cell lines from mammalian teratocarcinomas has offered an alternative model for the study of early embryogenesis in mammals (1). Specifically, several stem cell lines, capable of either spontaneous or drug-induced differentiation, allow a biochemical study of certain aspects of early differentiation.

The branching process method as developed by Gordon (1962) and Good (1963) is an extremely useful and powerful technique for computing aggregate size distributions. In this paper we have explicated the method and its mathematical foundations in a manner which should make the technique accessible for application in biology. By way of example, we showed how the branching process method could be used to derive the weight fraction distribution of aggregates formed in the random polycondensation of f-valent particles. This distribution was originally obtained by Stockmayer (1943) using combinatorial and statistical mechanical techniques. As a further example, we derived the size distribution of antigen-antibody aggregates in solution. Contrasting the few lines we needed to obtain this result with the original computation by Goldberg (1952), who followed the Stockmayer procedure, shows the simplicity of the branching process method.

A study was performed to determine if ploidy levels of nuclear DNA content could be used as a prognostic index of the biologic behavior of clear cell adenocarcinoma of the vagina and cervix in young females. Forty tumors were examined. Four patterns of nuclear DNA distribution were identified: (1) peridiploid stem cell lines (2N to 3N); (2) peritetraploid stem cell lines (3N to 5N); (3) hypertetraploid stem cell lines (greater than 5N); and (4) highly aneuploid without detectable stem cell lines. Tumors having peridiploid and peritetraploid stem cell lines (low ploidy group) were most often clinical Stage I or II (87%) and were in general associated with a favorable prognosis. Tumors having hypertetraploid stem cell lines and highly aneuploid distribution (high ploidy group) were usually clinical Stage III or IV (65%). Clinically advanced tumors (Stage III or IV) had poor prognosis irrespective of ploidy level. Among the clinical Stage I and II tumors, the low ploidy group had a slightly better prognosis than the high ploidy group. This difference, however, was not statistically significant.

In 1957-8 I was already deeply interested in what was coming to be called auto-immune disease and it became immediately obvious that if a clonal selection theory of immunity was to be accepted it must be applicable, with appropriate modifications, to pathological manifestations of immunity as well. The concept of the ‘forbidden clone’ emerged almost at once and I have seen no reason to withdraw the phrase or the idea since. It is a concept which can accept infinite elaboration to fit specific instances but yet remain basically very simple. In essence, a forbidden clone arises from a stem cell line in which two types of genetic individuality develop in the course of differentiation and somatic mutation. One is concerned with the nature of the ‘immune receptor’. It must allow the immunologically reactive cell (immunocyte) to react specifically with some accessible component of the body acting as an antigenic determinant. The second is a genetic anomaly that makes the cell more resistant than normal to the processes which should result in the elimination of such autoreactive cells from the body. Instead, when conditions are appropriate, it is stimulated to proliferate to form a forbidden clone with potentially pathogenic effect.

With the rapidly expanding population of old people in every affluent country, important new social problems are emerging. It is natural, therefore, that gerontology is attracting many of the academically minded, and within the medical profession a fully fledged speciality of geriatrics is growing up. With age every bodily system becomes less efficient and more vulnerable, though in some the effect is more striking than in others. Anyone interested in almost any aspect of human biology will find that some facet of ageing is relevant to his field of study. Immunologists are no exception and in any recent discussion on theories of ageing the auto-immune or immunological approach will be found mentioned. It is characteristic of theorizing in any difficult biological area not susceptible to effective experimental study that the three formulations of immunological approaches to ageing, by Walford, Burch, and myself, have not very much in common. There is a great deal more to ageing than the development of low-grade auto-immune disease, but this is part of the story and it would be inappropriate to omit the topic in a book on general aspects of auto-immunity.

On 19 December 2005 the recommendations of the Lockhart Review were released. One of the key recommendations was that current laws be amended to permit the creation of embryonic stem cells by somatic cell nuclear transfer. The Lockhart Report analysed the ethical arguments for and against the creation of embryos by nuclear transfer. It rationalised that, although there were various objections to such technology from some sections of Australian society, the good that this science has the potential to produce in the form of stem cell therapies to assist with or cure disease should prevail This article will critically analyse the ethical arguments presented to the Lockhart Review and assess how the Review Committee resolved the debate as to the ethical status of a preimplantation embryo. It will be contended that the recommendations for reform should be fully implemented by the Federal Government, to enable scientists to have full access to both embryonic and adult stem cells, including custom-made stem cell lines created through the SCNT process, to allow medical research to progress to its fullest potential.