Stem Cell Research: Game On
Posted by Michael_Byrne on Saturday, Apr 30, 2011
In 2009, President Obama attempted to lift his predecessor’s ban on stem cell research, only to be shot down the next year by a U.S. District Court bowing to an argument that federal funding for stem cell research was made illegal under a 1996 law. Last week, the Federal Court of Appeals overturned the lower court, once again opening the door for the National Institutes of Health to do its damn job and pursue quite possibly humankind’s best route to fighting disease.
“This is a victory not only for the scientists, but for the patients who are waiting for treatments and cures for terrible diseases,” Arnold Kriegstein, one of the leading researchers in the stem cell field, says. “This ruling allows critical research to move forward, enabling scientists to compare human embryonic stem cells to other forms of stem cells, such as the cell lines which are derived from skin cells, and to pursue potentially life-saving therapies based on that research.”
What a long strange trip its been for our friends the stem cells. Science Progress has a timeline:
Connected:
Yet More Things That Are Killing You Today, Vol. 4
Yet More Things That Are Killing You Today, Vol. 3
Yet More New Things That Are Killing You Today, Vol. 2
Reach this writer at michaelb@motherboard.tv.
Image: Brian Dunnette.Filed under:
About the author
Michael covers physics, climate science, the future of music, and assorted things fallen through cracks at Motherboard. A native of Colorado, Michigan, and Oregon, he currently resides in Baltimore...
