Harvard University has vowed to continue its work on developing controversial embryonic stem cells through cloned human embryos, according to today’s Boston Globe.

Last month American and Japanese researchers announced they had developed a new technique for reprogramming adult cells to act like embryonic stem cells — a method that could bypass the contentious issue of whether researchers should be allowed to destroy human embryos to develop lines of stem cells for research or therapies. At the time of the announcement, many researchers predicted that the new technique, called induced pluripotent stem cells, would eventually replace embryonic stem cells.

But researchers also predicted that embryonic stem cells would continue to be useful for research and that they might provide the foundation for therapies before induced pluripotent stem cells could yield treatments. The problem with the new technique is that researchers must insert viral genes into the adult cells to reprogram them — a technique that could alter the cells in detrimental ways.

The Globe reports that Harvard researchers are continuing with their $60-million stem-cell effort, part of which is devoted to developing lines of embryonic stem cells from cloned embryos. “There is a core of scientists, myself included, who deeply believe this an ethical and highly valuable area of research,” said George Q. Daley, a Harvard stem-cell researcher, in the Globe article. —Richard Monastersky