Word: cordes
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...course, the stem cells used at Duke are not the kind that have caused so much anguish and debate in the U.S. Because these cells are taken not from embryos but from cord or placenta blood, they are both more developed and less versatile than embryonic stem cells. But they are also less controversial because no potential human lives are lost if the cells are destroyed. Yet they seem to have great potential for battling certain illnesses...
...prevents the nerve fibers in babies' brains from developing the myelin insulation they need, leading to blindness, deafness, cognitive deterioration and death before age 2. In the Duke study, 25 babies who tested positive for Krabbe's--some of them already displaying symptoms, others not--were dosed with umbilical-cord stem cells...
Keirstead is doing his best by demonstrating the field's potential. He and his team published details earlier this month of how they helped paralyzed rats walk again by using human embryonic stem cells to aid regeneration of spinal-cord tissue. That is a tiny step, at best, toward therapies for people but, Keirstead says, "I've never seen anything that looks as good as the human embryonic stem cell." He can only hope that policymakers, too, will agree. --By Jeff Chu. With reporting by Eric Ferkenhoff/ Chicago, Elisabeth Kauffman/ Nashville and Terry McCarthy/ Los Angeles
What excites scientists about the unspecialized stem cells is their potential to develop into any type of tissue, from bone and muscle to skin and blood and nerve. Although there are several kinds of stem cells--including ones found in adult bone marrow and umbilical-cord blood--the most versatile, researchers say, are the ones that come from embryos, because they haven't yet developed enough to specialize at all. Those are the ones that scientists believe hold the greatest potential for treatment of a wide range of diseases, as well as for repairing damaged nerves and organs...
...also plan to point out that embryonic-stem-cell research has yet to produce a cure for anything. Researchers, they say, should first explore the potential of stem-cell research that does not require the destruction of embryos, including use of adult stem cells and stem cells from umbilical-cord blood. "This is not a debate between pro-science forces and religious zealots," says Pennsylvania Republican Joseph Pitts. "This is a debate about saving lives...