The University of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center launched the International Stem Cell Registry, a database intended to act as an online resource on human embryonic stem cells for both academic and private sector biomedical research.

The program, funded by a $570,000 grant from the MLSC, can be found at www.umassmed.edu/iscr and is believed to be the most comprehensive database of embryonic stem cell line yet available worldwide.

The registry describes nearly 200 embryonic stem cell lines, their properties, how they’ve been used to date, and scientific reports about the cells. Some material on the Web site is educational and aimed at a broad audience.

“It really, to our way of thinking, is one-stop shopping for all that one needs to know about human embryonic stem cells,” Dr. Gary Stein, chairman of the University of Massachusetts Medical School cell biology department said. The school will maintain the registry which can be accessed by anyone at no charge.

“This is of tremendous value to scientists, to clinicians. It is of tremendous value to the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. It means what we have configured is a resource that has a very comprehensive, a very well integrated collection of what is known about the use of human embryonic stem cells,” Stein added.

The initiative is daring considering the fact that stem cell research has been a controversial field because researchers have traditionally obtained the cells from blatocysts, fertilized eggs that are about five to six days old. More exactly, acquiring embryonic stem cells requires either destroying a human embryo or therapeutic cloning. However, there are many scientists supporting this controversial field, saying that the fast-multiplying cells obtained in a human embryo could result in medical advances that save lives.