Now For Some Promising News
The BBC is reporting on Stem cell therapy for eye disease:
UK scientists are attempting to restore vision in people with a leading cause of blindness using stem cells.
The team has already repaired the vision of a handful of patients with age-related macular degeneration using cells from the patients’ own eyes.
…
A £4m donation from a US benefactor who wishes to be remain anonymous has enabled the teams to set up the London Project to Cure AMD with the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology.
Professor Pete Coffey, director of the Project explained although they had successfully grown RPE cells in the laboratory, they now needed to make sure the cells were safe enough to be used in humans, which would take time.
“Using stem cells – which are far more adaptable – can only improve success of what has already been achieved and in addition establish this as a global therapy.”
A US donor gave the money to British researchers because the current US administration is such a group of Luddites that the program was subject to being shut down by a group of angry villagers waving torches and pitch forks with the Republan Congressional delegation leading the mob.
We can’t have science in the US anymore, because that is a form of sorcery.
6 comments
i have to admit, much as i want the entire world to be math- and science-literate, i do occasionally secretly relish the thought of ordinary mortals believing me to be a sorcerer.
Here in the good old USA, we PRAY away blindness. Lay our hands on the TV. If we’re not cured, we’re sinners who don’t deserve healing.
Sourcery?
<emily_litella_voice> Oh… sorcery. Well, that’s completely different. Never mind! </emily_litella_voice>
We are losing our top people to Europe because they can’t work in the US any more. It is so frustrating because biotech is a growth field and we should be leading the field and reaping the rewards.
Sorry; I should not have been so flippant. One of my occasional readers suffers age-related macular degeneration, and might well benefit from the results of this project.
It is a damned shame that the work has to take place outside the U.S. because of a bunch of idiots (I rarely use that term, if you haven’t noticed) who are too stupid to understand their own alleged moral precepts as they apply to current scientific research.
We are ruled by fools. My patience is wearing mighty thin.
A number of my Mother’s friends have had to stop driving because of AMD, which makes them dependent on other people for the first time in their lives. Older people tend to go downhill quickly when they become trapped in their houses, and there is no public transportation down here to help them out.