The stem cell is a very important object of study in the medical and bio-techcircles of the 21st century, Embryonic stem cells (ESC), because of their great power in diversification and proliferation, are looked upon by international scientific societies as having the capability to diversify into terminal products such as heart cells, pancreatic cells, nerve cells and eggs which can be used to cure human diseases.

National Taiwan University Hospital formed a human embryonic stem cell research team in 2004. This team has successfully fostered three human embryonic stem cell lines (NTU1, NTU2, and NTU3), which were good materials for subsequent stem cells diversifying into cells that have disease-curing effects. During the past two years, the research team has developed techniques which allow them to cultivate embryonic stem cells in a serum-free, and feeding-free environment.

More importantly, for the first time in medical history, the researchers were able to diversify a human embryonic cell into an ovum structure (with eggs inside) which had the genes of reproductive cells. This was such a major breakthrough in stem cell research that the article written by the research team appeared in the February issue of “Human Reproduction” magazine, and made its cover story. As the “Human Reproduction” magazine is considered the top notch publication is the Obstetrics field, the running of the story proved that NTU research team’s results bore profound medical significance and were highly regarded. In the future, if the team could cultivate highly functional eggs, NTU is expected to make great contributions to the treatment of diseases such as infertility and habitual abortion.