Britain has taken a further step towards establishing itself as the world leader in embryonic stem (ES) cell research by extending regulations permitting research on ES cells and cells derived by nuclear transfer, and announcing that it intends to create a national stem-cell bank.

A select committee convened 12 months ago by the House of Lords has extended the 1990 Human Fertilization and Embryology Act to cover 3 additional purposes: increasing knowledge about the development of embryos, increasing knowledge about serious disease, and enabling any such knowledge to be applied in developing treatments for serious disease. Thus, experimentation is no longer restricted to research related to fertility. See http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200102/ ldselect/ldstem/83/8310.htm.

Two teams have been granted the first research licenses under the new regulations. Researchers at the University of Edinburgh's Center for Genome Research are looking primarily at the methodology for producing stem cells by investigating the processes of multipotential stem-call self-renewal and differentiation. They aim to find ways of directing stem cells to make nerve, heart and blood cells. “Any stem-cell lines that we derive will be deposited in the national stem-cell bank,” Austin Smith, the director of the center, said in a statement. He also emphasized that the research team is only using 'spare' embryos generated for—but not subsequently used in—infertility treatment.

The second group, from Kings College in London, is also looking at the basic mechanisms by which stem cells operate. Neurobiologist Stephen Minger is currently investigating how mouse stem cells can be 'driven' to become β cells, and is interested in exploring similar opportunities using human stem cells. “At present, we are doing this as basic science, in order to understand the fundamental mechanisms at work,” says Minger. He describes the creation of the bank as a “really positive” development, and adds: “If we can generate good cell lines, then it is going to be an incredibly useful scientific source.”

The stem-cell bank, which is expected to hold both adult and embryonic cell lines, is to be set up by the Medical Research Council (MRC), at the request of the Department of Health. It follows discussions between both bodies and the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the statutory body that regulates and licenses human embryo research in the UK. The HFEA must be satisfied that there are no existing ES cell lines in the bank suitable for proposed research before granting any new license to establish human cell lines.

A key goal of the bank will be to ensure that the ES cell lines to which scientists are provided access are of guaranteed purity and provenance. “One hears of many cell lines currently on offer that are difficult to work with and of poor quality,” says one researcher. “Researchers in the field need to know what they are getting.” It is not clear at present who will have access to the cells in the bank and whether this will be restricted to UK-based scientists only.

The government is also keen to ensure that the cell lines in the bank come from sources that operate under ethically approved standards—for example, that the appropriate informed consent has been given by the couples from whom the embryos originate. To ensure that both the scientific and ethical criteria are met, the MRC is to set up an advisory committee, chaired by Genevra Richardson, professor of public law at Queen Mary College in London. Part of this committee's responsibilities will be to generate what the research council describes as “route maps” designed to help scientists to identify which licenses and accreditations they will need if that want to carry out stem-cell research.