If you are considering giving a gift to HSCI in tax year 2011, there are a few factors to keep in mind to make sure that Harvard is able to give you a tax receipt for calendar year 2011 instead of 2012.  Mutual funds must be received in Harvard’s account no later than 12/12/2011.  If you are sending a check, please make sure that the envelope is postmarked no later than 12/31/2011, or, if you are using a service other than US Mail, that the package arrives at Harvard no later than 12/31/2011.  Credit card donations must be charged to your account no later...

Five years after Harvard researchers first received institutional permission to attempt to produce stem cell lines via somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), a young scientist who worked in the Harvard program as a postdoctoral fellow has succeeded in using the process — known as therapeutic cloning — to produce a stem cell line containing the genes of a patient with type 1 diabetes.... Read more about Stem cell lessons: Insights on SCNT in studies, commentary

A team of Harvard stem cell researchers has succeeded in reprogramming adult mouse skin cells directly into the type of motor neurons damaged in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), best known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). These new cells, which researchers are calling induced motor neurons (iMNs), can be used to study the development of the paralyzing diseases and to develop treatments for them.... Read more about From skin cells to motor neurons: researchers find success with direct cellular reprogramming