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TODAY IN

TODAY IN. STEM CELL RESEARCH. BY JAKE VERDUGO. Recent Court Rulings?. On May 28, 2011, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned an injunction that banning that the government from funding research for human embryonic stem cells.

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TODAY IN

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  1. TODAY IN STEM CELL RESEARCH BY JAKE VERDUGO

  2. Recent Court Rulings? • On May 28, 2011, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned an injunction that banning that the government from funding research for human embryonic stem cells. • This is EXCELLENT news for the future of government funded stem cell research and for the possibilities of treatments for deadly diseases!! • Under the Obama Administration, the US has a proactive stem cell research policy.

  3. Background Information about the Ruling… • Back in August 2010, District Court judge, Royce Lamberth filed a preliminary injunction on the federal funding of hESC research. Two scientists brought forth the case that federally funded hESC research aided by the National Institute of Health was in violation of the Dickey-Wicker Amendment imposed in 1996. The Dickey-Wicker law bans the use of federal funds in reseach that involves destroying embryos. • This injunction would put a halt to many important research expeditions throughout the country. • After 17 days, the injunction was lifted by the Court of Appeals in Washington. The court decided that Judge Lamberth had “abused discretion” meaning that he really didn’t have enough information to impose an injunction. • The court ruled that, due to the ambiguity of the Dickey-Wicker law, a case could not be made against the NIH and hESC research can continue because the law cannot prohibit the government from funding a project involving an hESC.

  4. Problems with iPS Research? • iPS cells are supposed to be the ethical alternative to the controversial hESC. They are made from our own cells which supposedly bypasses our immune system’s need to reject them, like they would with hESC. • In a recent experiment with iPS cells in mice, the cells caused the mouse’s immune system to reject them. This experiment was published in Nature, a British publication, by Yang Xu, professor of molecular biology at UC San Diego. This poses an issue with all of the hype that iPS cells have generated over the past few years. People may become skeptical of this research because quite a few scientists claimed that our bodies wouldn’t reject these cells, while a mouse’s did just that. • Other scientists have come out against this publication and the controversy their results have caused. They claim that other tests need to be conducted and yield the same results in order for Xu’s results to be validated. • Article:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43023388/ns/health-cloning_and_stem_cells/

  5. hESC Clinical Trial Updates • Currently, there are only two federally approved clinical trials involving hESC; Geron’s usage of stem cells to treat chronic degenerative diseases and cancer, and Advanced Cell Technology’s usage of stem cells to treat Macular Dystrophy. • Geron: • Geron’s main trial is a Phase I clinical trial involving spinal cord injuries. It has been going on for 7 months while the patient has not shown any resistance towards the treatment, yet has yielded no conclusive results. • The company also has several Phase II trials involving cancer treatments.

  6. Clinical Trials Pt. 2 • ACT: • ACT is currently focused on eye and macular degenerative diseases. Although macular degeneration cannot be cured, it can be treated so that it is held in check and doesn’t totally blind the affected patient. • The Phase I trials for the treatment of macular degeneration with hESC has been approved and will commence at the end of June 2011, hopefully yielding results quickly by October.

  7. Stem Cell Research in 15 years? • In 15 years, so many changes in the vast realm of science can happen that it’s almost difficult to predict. In terms of stem cells, they are still so relatively new that it’s foolish to give a definitive answer to this question. So I will be slight ambiguous… • I think stem cell research can be at two places in 15 years: • 1: stem cells can turn out to be the successful in treating diseases, growing new body parts, and all that exciting stuff. This is the more mainstream/optimistic way of looking at stem cell research. By that time, we will have found out definitive results to the Geron and ACT clinical trials and whether or not they were successful, in addition to a variety of other trials. In addition to hESC, there are still many experiments and research projects dealing with ASC and iPS. I personally think that we will see the most positive results with ASC than iPS or hESC because they are already proven to work. In terms of iPS research, since I really don’t know much about it besides what it’s supposed to do, I can only hope that scientists can get a grip on this relatively untamed territory. If they do that, it would spare us from having to deal with the religious fanatics who absolutely despise stem cell research. I’m certainly excited to see what happens with stem cells and I hope they are successful because I see myself as very pro-hESC research.

  8. Stem Cell Research in 15 years? • Scenario 2: • In addition to my optimistic side about stem cell research, I also feel that the uncertainty of the research leaves the door open for a major social let down. We can predict what these cells are supposed to do, but there is always the possibility that what scientists are trying to do can’t be done. Is it too cynical to say that stem cell research has the potential to be like idea of a flying car? Maybe so, but we just don’t know if it can be done. If scientists prove that many of the hopeful things we thought stem cells could do can’t be done, that could cause a social backlash towards further research. Also, I think that the United States, in particular, with teeter back and forth between pro and anti-stem cell policies in the future. At the moment, we have a very pro-research administration, yet one can’t say that some other regime will try to outlaw research. Given that the religious right seem to be taking over the conservative spectrum of American politics, we may experience terms of very restrictive policies towards stem cell research when the balance of power shifts back and forth between liberals and conservatives in Washington. • I’m hoping that scenario 1 is what happens, but I’m very excited to see what happens along the way. At the moment, the future is looking very bright for stem cell research.

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