Researchers have described "a population of cells that mark the very fist stage of differentiation of human stem cells as they enter a developmental pathway that leads to production of blood, heart muscle. blood vessels and bone."
Photo: M. W. Lensch, Children's Hospital, Boston, MA
Reading like something that might appear in science fiction, the article goes on to say "Researchers hope that these cells could one day be used for clinical treatments of a wide range of medical conditions as the discovery may help scientists create better and safer tissues for use in regenerative medicine. It also will allow scientists to better understand the differences between pluripotent stem cells, which can become every cell in the body, and cells that have lost their pluripotency and are on their way to becoming specific types of tissue cells."
It is wonderful to see American research again reaching spectacular results after GW Bush crippled useful research and we lost many of our top scientists to other countries where they could freely carry out research that was more meaningful than the way the Bush Administration had tied their hands. Perhaps it is not so currently the 'cause du jour' for a particular facet of the religious right. Whatever it is. it is encouraging to see something promising come out of our own research labs.
"Crooks's research program focuses on making blood stem cells from human embryonic stem cells. Studies have shown that the blood stem cells created from human embryonic stem cells in the lab lack some of the functions possessed by the blood stem cells found in bone marrow or umbilical cord blood. "
For more detail in the article, click here. My but it is good to see some freedom from the Bush conservative strangulation.
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