Balzan prize Won By Japanese Stem Cell Researcher

 If adult cells could take on the characteristics of embryonic stem cells, then the moral issue wouldn't arise. According to the article below, that's what this Japanese researcher has discovered and it won him the Balzan Prize for biology.
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Japanese stem cell researcher wins Balzan prize
COLLEEN BARRY The Associated Press Mon, Sep. 6, 2010

AP | 09/06/2010: "MILAN - A Japanese researcher who found a way to give adults cells certain characteristics of embryonic stem cells, a process scientists say could eventually lead to cures for spinal cord injuries and other ailments, has been awarded the Balzan Prize for biology.

Shinya Yamanaka's prize is one of four , two for sciences, two in humanities , awarded this year by the foundation, with the goal of highlighting new or emerging areas of research and to sustain fields of study that may have been overlooked elsewhere.

Also winning awards were Brazilian mathematician Jacob Palis, who was cited for his contributions to the theory of dynamical systems, which draws from chaos theory and the butterfly effect, or the idea that small differences can create huge changes.

The humanities prizes go to Italian historian Carlo Ginzburg, the father of microhistory, the study of the past based on a focus on the small scale, for his contributions to the study of ordinary people in Europe, and to German Manfred Bauneck for his history of the European theater.

Yamanaka has used its finding to treat spinal chord lesions in mice, though the process has not so far been applied in humans, said Nicole Le Douarin, an honorary professor at the College de France who has written a book on stem cells, and who presented the citation.
The process allows adult cells that have already been differentiated into, say, kidney cells or neural cells, be transformed back into cells with the characteristics of embryonic cells , a breakthrough that could provide an alternative to the controversial use of human embryos in stem cell research.

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Is Stem-Cell Research Put On Hold Permanently?

 I feel that stem cell research is a very important part of our health system. I agree that there is a moral issue, particularly if the stem cells are collected for that purpose, but there is a huge opportunity to advance our medical knowledge in so many ways. Until such time as we can artificially supply this type of duplicating cell, then I think we should be advancing into this area aggresively.
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American Society For Biochemistry And Molecular Biology Reacts To Stem-Cell Ruling
Posted on: Friday, 3 September 2010, 14:41 CDT 

 Science News - redOrbit: "The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology expressed its disapproval and disappointment this week in response to the Aug. 23 ruling in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that granted a preliminary injunction barring federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research.

In a statement, the society said the decision, which came in response to a lawsuit filed by two adult stem-cell researchers, effectively halts human embryonic stem-cell research in the United States and 'represents a crossroads in American scientific policy.'

The society, which represents more than 12,000 scientists in both academia and industry worldwide, urged Congress to act swiftly to pass legislation that will restore federal funding to embryonic stem-cell researchers as to not further delay 'potential medical cures for millions of sick Americans.'

Meanwhile, the society said the ruling undercuts the "gold standard" peer-review process by allowing the merits of research projects to be determined by those on the judicial bench instead of those working at the laboratory bench: "Funding of basic biomedical research is not a zero-sum game in which particular lines of research are supported at the expense of others; rather, the system has evolved so that each proposal is evaluated on both its merits and its future benefits for easing the burden of disease."
The peer-review process "is by nature competitive," the statement said, and has "resulted in new biomedical methodologies and technologies that continue to benefit society at large."

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