Stem Cells in the News

Every time I read a story like this, about someone with a recent spinal cord injury, it's heartbreaking. Not just because I know the acute-care horrors they are facing, from ventilators and crazy nurses to the mind-numbing uncertainty that comes with it all, but because I also know the longer-term struggles, the hopes of recovery that may flicker yet never quite disappear, and the monotony and solitude that can accompany a sedentary life.

It warms my heart, though, to think back on the support and love I received in the aftermath of my injury, and it is my constant hope and prayer that each person I read about is lucky like I was, and still am. Because I have hope, and without that, you have nothing.

But it's news like this which makes my attempts at recovery all the more frustrating. Dr. Sean Morrison, the director of U of M's Center for Stem Cell Biology and a major proponent of Proposal 2, the 2008 ballot measure which amended Michigan's state constitution to allow for embryonic stem cell research, is leaving to take a similar, yet much better funded job in Texas, taking a dozen or so colleagues with him. His departure is thanks in large part to having to "spend the last five to six years arguing with the Legislature about what kind of research would be permitted in the state, while in Texas they were looking for ways to invest billions of dollars into medical research." Cures are cures, no matter what state they originate in, but it bodes poorly for ours if we are having our top talent sniped away from us by those willing to make life-saving investments, while we'd rather argue about the sanctity of a petri dish that's about to be thrown into the garbage anyway.

Don't fret, there are great things happening in terms of research, as this feature in Fast Company attests. But my hope is that researchers continue to cast as wide of nets as possible in their search for cures, and not be dissuaded by the maniacal fringe.


Some levity:


Great Obama impression:


The real Kung-fu Panda: