In a cloning first, scientists create stem cells from adult skin cells

Scientists have moved closer to creating stem cells perfectly matched to a patient’s DNA in order to treat diseases, creating patient-specific cell lines out of the skin cells of two men.

The advance, described online in the journal Cell Stem Cell on Thursday, is the first time researchers have achieved “therapeutic cloning” of adults. Technically called somatic-cell nuclear transfer, therapeutic cloning means producing embryonic cells genetically identical to a donor, usually for the purpose of using those cells to treat disease.