Op-Ed: New, Moral Approach to Stem Cell Research

March 14, 2008

You may have noticed the recent heated debate concerning embryonic stem cell research has been completely phased out of the mainstream media, whereas a few months ago it was constantly disputed. Strangely enough, this hushed silence coincided with a remarkable breakthrough in the field of stem cell research. Namely, last November, Shinya Yamanaka at Kyoto University and James Thompson at the University of Wisconsin, as well as a team at UCLA, all managed to manipulate human skin cells so that those cells would retrace their development to a “non-commitant” cell. In other words, those reprogrammed cells, called “induced pluripotent stem cells,” can then take on a variety of tissue types. Like embryonic and adult stem cells, these reprogrammed skin cells can be used to regenerate heart tissue, brain cells, and could even treat spinal injuries. (The Cowl)