What are some recent breakthroughs in embryonic stem cell research?
Doctors, researchers and scientists are working every day on treatments and cures for heart disease, diabetes, spinal cord injuries and many other afflictions. Below are several advances announced just this year at institutions across the United States. For our friends, families and fellow citizens, we must allow this noble and important work to continue. • Special nerve cells created from embryonic stem cells could help heal spinal cord injuries, say researchers at the University of Colorado Denver and the University of Rochester in New York. The special cells, called astrocytes, regenerated nerve fibers in the injured spinal cords of mice, helping them move again. The team is working on human forms of the cell for human clinical trials someday (University of Colorado Denver and University of Rochester, Sept. 19, 2008). • Embryonic stem cells can regenerate heart tissue in mice to treat a congenital defect called dilated cardiomyopathy, according to a study at Mayo Clinic in Rochester
