BOSTON -- Two teams of Boston scientists announced Tuesday that they will attempt to create the world's first cloned human embryonic stem cells, television station WCVB reported.

Harvard Stem Cell Institute and Boston Children's Hospital researchers said they will try to develop a powerful new tool to explore the biology of, and create patient and disease-specific, stem cell lines that could lead to the treatment of a wide range of now-incurable conditions afflicting tens of millions of people worldwide.

Researchers plan to initially focus on diabetes and then expand to include neurodegenerative diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as Lou Gehrig's disease, and blood disorders.

"This is an experiment that is going to take a long time for us -- probably greater than 10 years. But this the beginning of these experiments," said Dr. Leonard Kon, of Boston's Children Hospital.

The method, called somatic cell nuclear transfer, involves removing the nucleus, which contains DNA, from an affected cell and replacing it with the nucleus from a donor cell, researchers explained. The cell is then forced to divide into multiple cells that are genetically identical to the healthy donor cell. The method has already proven successful in animal research.

Patients with diabetes, blood disease and neurodegeneration will donate the cells. Embryos that were created through in vitro fertilization that have been deemed incapable of producing a pregnancy will be the source of the embryonic cells.

In accordance with state law, the donors will not be paid for their contributions and they must give written permission.

"For this research to move forward, we'll need compassionate women to step forward to donate their oocytes for research. This is in close collaboration with a local (in vitro fertilization) clinic, called Boston IVF," said Harvard researcher Dr. Kevin Eggan.

Human embryonic stem cell research has long been at the center of controversy because in extracting healthy cells, days-old human embryos are destroyed. Embryonic cells are used because they are capable of developing into any cell or tissue type in the body. Opponents of the work claim that no potential medical benefit can justify the destruction of what they view as a human life.

"We will have patients have a particular disease, lets say diabetes or Alzheimer's disease, and we will be able to create embryonic stem cells lines that capture those diseases. We can then try to add drugs to those cells and try to cure the disease with particular drugs," Kon said.

Harvard President Lawrence Summers is hopeful the research will lead to millions of people being able to live healthier lives.

"While we understand and respect the sincerely held beliefs of those who oppose this research, we are equally sincere in our belief that the life-and-death medical needs of countless suffering children and adults justifies moving forward with this research," Summers said in a release about the work.

An ethics committee must approve all new experiments. Because of federal funding restrictions on human embryonic stem cell research, the studies are being funded privately.