“We show for the first time that the same genes turned on in normal human embryos are the same genes turned on in human clones,” said Robert Lanza, scientific director of Advanced Cell Technologies and co-author of a study published Monday in Cloning and Stem Cells.

So the genes activated during the cloning process are the same as the genes activated during normal embryonic development? That’s not very hard to believe. Lanza and his team used a process known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) to implant cell nuclei from humans into hollowed egg cells from both humans and animals and stimulated them into development, which is a standard process in cloning experimentations. Many of the cloned embryos displayed the same characteristics as a conventional embryo fertilized in vitro.

“The DNA resembles the DNA of a normal human embryo, which raises the question of human reproductive cloning,” said Lanza.

With the recent news that stem cell research will be receiving more funding and support from the federal government, Lanza’s embryonic cloning procedures may be getting a boost and might have the chance of getting some real scientific merit. I doubt that we’ll be seeing any actually cloning going on any time soon, though. The 6th Day? I don’t think so.