Now, back to High School Sex-Ed, we all know essentially that when a sperm meets an egg a new cell is formed. This cell has the potential to form all parts of an organism, be it mouse, rat or human (as it pertains to which ever cell egg and sperm cells we are talking about naturally).

Once this new cell has formed it begins to divide into 2, and then 4 and 8 and so on ...

This is where Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer starts. It is possible to remove the nucleus of an unfertilized egg (as in before fertilization), and replace it with the nucleus of other cells (such as liver or heart cells). Once the new nucleus is inserted, the cell must be treated with an electric shock to stimulate or restart division.

This cell, with the new nucleus is now essentially a stem cell that is capable of growing into the new organ (again ... for example a liver).

This process IS NOT reproductive cloning, though that can in theory be done using similar methods.

Effectively, with SCNT, we have the means to develop new cells that are effectively "clones" of existing cells (not clones of a full body). The goal of this research is to use SCNT to effectively create new heart, liver, spinal or pancreatic cells for reimplantation into patients that have failing or faulty organs.

Projecting forward (WAYYYY forward), the goal of many of the researchers would be that a patient with heart disease or Parkinsons would be able to come to a lab and essentially get an injection of heart of brain stem cells (essentially their own cells genetically speaking) that would then migrate within the body to the damaged organ and repair that damage.

More definitions later, but I hope this clears things up a bit.