DerbyCity Area Chapter of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association
ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION
The Derby City Area Chapter of the N.S.C.I.A. is a membership organization for individuals with spinal cord injuries, their families, and health professionals. Founded in 1984 as a Charter Member of the N.S.C.I.A., it was incorporated under IRS Section 501 (c) 3 as a not for profit organization. The Board of Directors consists of the Officers, Past President and the Board Members At Large.
*** OFFICERS
PRESIDENT
David Allgood - (502) 589-6620
VICE PRESIDENT
Adam Ford - (502) 425-2206
TREASURER
Tom Stokes- (502) 957-5865
LIAISON TO FRAZIER INSTITUTE
Jill Farmer
FUNDRAISING CHAIR
Betty Perry—(502) 647-0368
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY/WEB MASTER
Michael Feger- (502) 647-0368
PAST PRESIDENT
Adam Ford- (502) 425-2206
BOARD MEMBERS AT LARGE-
Mike Perry
Kelly Young
NSCIA DERBY CITY CHAPTER NEWSLETTER
Editor- Barbara Davis
Contributor- David Allgood
Visit Our Website at www.DerbyCitySpinalCord.org
The Derby City Area Chapter Newsletter is brought to you through the generous support of Frazier Rehab Institute
STEM CELL TECHNIQUE, CONT'D
The technique, if adaptable to human cells, is much easier to apply than nuclear transfer, would not involve the expensive and controversial use of human eggs, and should avoid all or almost all of the ethical criticism directed at the use of embryonic stem cells.
"From the point of view of moving biomedicine and regenerative medicine faster, this is about as big a deal as you can imagine," said Irving Weissman, a leading stem cell biologist at Stanford University. He was not involved in the new research.
David Scadden, a stem cell biologist at the Harvard Medical School, said the finding that cells could be reprogrammed with simple biomedical techniques is "truly extraordinary and frankly something most assumed would take a decade to work out."
The technique seems likely to be welcomed by many who have opposed human embryonic stem cell research. It "raises no serious moral problem, because it creates embryonic-like stem cells without creating, harming, or destroying human lives at any stage," said Richard Doerflinger, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' spokesman on stem cell issues.
Ronald Green, an ethicist at Dartmouth College, said it would be "very hard for people to say that what is created here is a nascent form of human life that should be protected."
A report on the new technique by Yamanaka last year riveted the attention of biologists elsewhere. Two teams set out to repeat and extend his findings. One team was led by Jaenisch and the other by Katherine Plath of UCLA and Konrad Hochedlinger of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. Yamanaka, too, set about refining his work.
In articles published today in Nature and a new journal, Cell Stem Cell (The first word in the journal's name refers to its publisher, Cell Press), the three teams show that injection of the four genes identified by Yamanaka can make mouse cells revert to cells indistinguishable from embryonic stem cells.
An immediate issue is whether the technique can be reinvented for human cells. One problem is that the mice have to be interbred, which cannot be done with people.
Another is that the cells must be infected with a gene-carrying virus, which is not ideal for cells to be used in therapy. A third issue is that two of the genes in the recipe can cause cancer. Indeed 20 percent of Dr. Yamanaka's mice died of the disease. Nonetheless, several biologists expressed confidence that all these difficulties will be overcome.
