Posted on 11/25/2005 12:05:35 PM PST by Hunden
CLEVELAND — A year after it was established, the National Center for Regenerative Medicine is opening a production lab to develop adult stem cells for treatments.
The center, formed last November with $4.5 million in federal seed funding, is a partnership of Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and University Hospitals of Cleveland.
Adult stem cell production has potential for therapies to treat diseases such as leukemia and other cancers, heart disease and bone ailments, said Dr. Stanton Gerson, professor of medicine at Case and director of the center. He called Monday’s official opening of the cell production lab the center’s inaugural event.
“It shows we are off and running,” Gerson said.
“Currently we are within Cleveland but you will see us taking on a very active national role. You can’t do it all at once, but we’ll be there very soon. Our intent is to develop national, interactive collaborative basic research and to showcase that by developing a coordinating effort for multicenter clinical trials.”
According to the National Institutes of Health, scientists in many laboratories are trying to find ways to grow adult stem cells to specific cell types so they can be used to treat injury or disease.
“We take adult stem cells from tissues and from blood, we purify them and then expand them and grow them in the laboratory to prepare them very specifically and only for clinical use,”
Gerson said. The center links researchers who have received NIH grants.
Gerson said the center treated its first patient Tuesday — the same day the Ohio Senate passed limits on embryonic stem cell research and human cloning.
The bill bans the use of any state money for research on embryonic stem cells that aren’t approved for federal funding under a 2001 order from President Bush. The cells, which can become any type of tissue in the body, were extracted from leftover fertility clinic embryos and no longer can develop into babies.
Gerson said his center only seeks therapies from adult stem cells able to yield specialized cell types of a tissue or organ. The history of research on adult stem cells began about 40 years ago. According to the NIH, adult stem cells exist in very small numbers in human tissue.
As long as someone doesn't interpret the Bible to be against this, too.
Those in charge at AP must have left their token evangelical Christian to work the Thanksgiving holiday. Consequently, the title includes the term "adult stem cell". The average news consumer has never heard of this.
What is the argument that it is? I've never heard one, but people seem to think that there are actually people out there in favor of using fetuses, etc. Everyone I know who works with stem cell programs uses adult stem cells or umbilical stem cells.
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