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Asked by benjamix777 to Emma, James, Jayne, Kara, Sharon on 22 Mar 2011 in Categories: Your Research.
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Sharon Sneddon answered on 21 Mar 2011:
HI Benjamix777,
Yes, I think that the breakthroughs and discoveries made from stem cells in the past few years have been great, and I think things are progressing well. I know at times scientific research seems to take a long long time until a new drug, or “cure” is discovered, but that is mainly due to all the safety testing and efficacy studies that have to be carried out before any treatment can be used on a patient, and just because something works well in the lab, does not mean it’s going to have the same effect on a disease inside the human body.
I think that I am really pleased with all the progress I have made over my career as a scientist and hope that in some small way it contributes to a wider knowledge of stem cells.
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Emma King answered on 21 Mar 2011:
Hi benjamix777 – yes I think as an outsider that the current research is progressing well. Unfortunatly many people don’t understand just how long it takes to for stem cell therapies to get through all the regulations that we have to make sure they are safe and effective. There are two stem cell trials just starting at the moment, so I think that is a sign that other companies may soon be able to follow them.
Hope that helps! -
Kara Cerveny answered on 22 Mar 2011:
Great question benjamix777. This is what I do on a daily basis now as a scientific editor. I would say that the field of stem cell biology is moving very rapidly, and I would predict that in the next 5-10 years we will have stem cell treatments for some diseases with many others in the development phase. The biological journals (the primary way scientists communicate with each other) are very interested in publishing important stem cell work; and the top prestigious journals like Science, Nature, and Cell try to publish only the best, most cutting edge work in all disciplines, including stem cell biology. One of the most exciting things going on right now is occurring in many labs that are developing induced pluripotent stem cell lines from patients to try to better understand the molecular nature of the disease with an eye towards developing new therapies.
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Jayne Charnock answered on 22 Mar 2011:
Hi Benjaminx
Yes i think it is- some areas are moving faster and others slower than expected, but there is still so much to be achieved, its definately a great area to be working in 🙂
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James Chan answered on 22 Mar 2011:
Hi Benjamix,
I think there has been an explosion in the knowledge we have gained about stem cell technology and how we may be able to apply this to the clinical scenario, so yes, I think stem cell technology as a whole is progressing very well. We are just waiting for a bit more info on its safety issues before we can start using it routinely in clinical practice for some diseases. For example, people have shown that heart attack patients and dementia patients can benefit from stem cell transplant but we don’t know very much about the long term effects of this therapy.
In my own research, we have been very excited and encouraged by our results so far because we think we have found a way of making broken bones heal quicker! There are potentially millions of people worldwide who can benefit from this therapy – just think how many people get fractures every day – and we are hoping to try this in human patients soon, so watch this space!!
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