20th Anniversary of Isolation of Human Embryonic Stem Cells: A Personal Perspective

Following Jamie Thomson's lecture on primate embryonic stem cells (ESCs) at a meeting I had organized in March 1997, in Israel, to celebrate receipt of the Wolf Prize in Agriculture to my colleague and friend Neal First, frozen human embryos donated for research in Israel were shipped to Wisconsin. The five hESC lines (H1, H7, H9, H13, and H14) were established by early 1998 and transferred to my laboratory just before publication of their existence in Science, on November 6, 1998. The distribution of the cells from my institute to several laboratories, as early as 1999, enhanced the development of hESC research worldwide. My personal perspective regarding the scientific and political events surrounding this story are presented. Joseph Itskovitz-Eldor gives his personal perspective and experience related to events in the US and Israel surrounding the early days of hESC derivation in 1998; the major role reproductive medicine, specifically IVF, played in successful isolation of hESC lines; and how early distribution of hESCs from his laboratory contributed to the development of hESC research.