News
TX scientists prepare stem cell research to take advantage of restrictions being loosened
Houston Chronicle
More than a decade after the discovery of human embryonic stem cells, Texas scientists are poised to finally ramp up research involving the cutting-edge but controversial science.
With President Barack Obama expected to lift federal restrictions on the field as early as this week, scientists in the Texas Medical Center and around the state have expressed their delight and predicted a long-awaited scientific renaissance will follow.
“Opening up the research is going to have an enormous benefit,” said Bill Brinkley, a Baylor College of Medicine professor of molecular and cellular biology. “After being diminished and pushed to the side for a decade, embryonic stem cell research will become mainstream — most every lab will take advantage of it.”
In the minds of many, stem cell research promises nothing less than the future of medicine, youthful tissue replacing that which is old or damaged. From animal studies, scientists tout research suggesting stem cells can replace brain cells lost in Parkinson’s disease, restore function to defective muscles in muscular dystrophy and regenerate parts of the pancreas that don’t work in diabetes.
The question is, how quickly can scientists turn the promise into reality? The first attempt is about to start in California. A biotech company there recently got clearance from the Food and Drug Administration for the first human trial of a therapy based on embryonic stem cells, injecting them into the spinal cords of paralyzed people.
