Dr. James Thomson was on the team of research scientists at the University of Wisconsin who recently announced breakthrough gene technology that may end the ethical controversy surrounding human embryo research. 

Thomson’s team as well as separate researchers in Tokyo appears to have created the coveted stem cells found in human embryos through gene technology on skin cells.  Thomson has worked in stem cell research for a decade, including on human embryos.  Admitting to struggling with the ethical concerns about embryo destruction for research, Thomson told the New York Times:

“If human embryonic stem cell research does not make you at least a little bit uncomfortable, you have not thought about it enough.”