Claim: Stem Cell Research: The Quest Resumes
Verdict: SUPPORTS

Retrieved passages:
title: Natural scientific research in Canada
text: stem cell research activity during this period. In 1997, Dr. John Dick, a molecular biologist at the University of Toronto, was the first to discover the existence of cancer stem cells. The Stem Cell Network was established in 2001 with headquarters at the University of Ottawa, and brings together more than 80 leading scientists, clinicians and engineers from Canadian universities and hospitals. Researchers study cellular therapeutics and their pharmacological applications as well as related technologies, public policy, ethical, legal and social issues with the goal of effectively treating cancer, heart and lung disease, macular degeneration, stroke, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord

title: MIRA procedure
text: stem cells for breast reconstruction after mastectomy as long as there is no evidence of cancer. In the year 2002 the UCLA under direction of Dr. Marc H. Hedrick M.D. started research on possible applications of Adult stem cells generating positive results. Opting for research on Adult stem cells rather than Embryonic stem cells resulted amidst the stem cell controversy that involve diverse ethical concerns and religious groups, most prominently the Catholic Church. Embryonic stem cells till this day are frowned upon many for the implication of the destruction of human embryos, yet the progress of adult stem cells has

title: Terra Incognita: The Perils and Promise of Stem Cell Research
text: Terra Incognita: The Perils and Promise of Stem Cell Research Terra Incognita: The Perils and Promise of Stem Cell Research, also known as Terra Incognita: Mapping Stem Cell Research, is a documentary film released by Kartemquin Films in 2007. The film follows Dr. Jack Kessler of Northwestern University in his search for a cure for spinal cord injuries using embryonic stem cells. When Kessler was invited to head up the Neurology Department at Northwestern, his focus was on using stem cells to help cure diabetes. However, soon after his move to Chicago, his daughter Allison – then age 15, was

title: Fiona Watt
text: stem cells into clinical reality for patients. As of January 2012, Watt began organising previous research findings at King's College and proceeded to institute her own research program involving the use of stem cells in regenerative medicine and disease, especially the development and renewal of epidermal stem cells. Her major research interest is in the role of stem cells in adult tissue maintenance. For many of her studies, she uses mammalian epidermis as a model system, both in the context of genetically modified mice and epidermal reconstitution in culture. Some of her current projects are exploring self-renewal and lineage selection

title: Amy Wagers
text: Amy Wagers Amy J. Wagers is the Forst Family Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard University and Harvard Medical School, an investigator in islet cell and regenerative biology at the Joslin Diabetes Center, and principal faculty of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. Wager started her education at Johns Hopkins University and received her B.A. in Biological Sciences and her Ph.D. in Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis from Northwestern University in 1999. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Irving Weissman at Stanford University School of Medicine. Wagers researches intrinsic and extrinsic regulators of stem cell

title: Kevin Eggan
text: ("HSCI") in 2005. At the time, stem cell research in the United States was threatened by political pressure due to concerns over the ethics of human embryo research, and research such as this was at risk of potentially being made illegal. Federal funding for stem cell research had recently been removed, and part of his role was to obtain private funding to replace it. Eggan took on a second role as the assistant investigator for Stowers Institute for Medical Research, a philanthropical medical research group in Kansas City, Missouri. Eggan's research goals at Harvard were to understand how nuclear transplantation

title: Terra Incognita: The Perils and Promise of Stem Cell Research
text: was broadcast on PBS' award-winning series Independent Lens in 2008. 'Terra Incognita' won a 2008 Peabody Award recognizing the film's uncompromising look at stem-cell research. The film also won Best Documentary Feature at the 2009 Kos International Health Film Festival in Greece. Terra Incognita: The Perils and Promise of Stem Cell Research Terra Incognita: The Perils and Promise of Stem Cell Research, also known as Terra Incognita: Mapping Stem Cell Research, is a documentary film released by Kartemquin Films in 2007. The film follows Dr. Jack Kessler of Northwestern University in his search for a cure for spinal cord injuries

title: Peter Zandstra
text: the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr Zandstra, currently serves associate editor for the journals Stem Cells, Stem Cell Research and Biotechnology and Bioengineering. Research in the Zandstra Laboratory is focused on the regeneration of functional tissues from stem cells and the development and utilization of tools to modulate the responses of stem cells in vitro and in vivo. Interest in the generation of primary cells and tissues ex vivo is driven both by their potential use as a direct clinical modality and as human tissue analogues for the development of novel therapeutic agents. Dr Zandstra’s group particularly

title: Natural scientific research in Canada
text: is to map the functional transcriptome or the genetic circuitry of stem cells. Planned as a follow-up to the Human Genome Project, the consortium is headquartered at the University of Ottawa and led by Dr. Michel Rudniki. In 2009, Dr. Andras Nagy, a biologist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, developed a practical way to transform mature human cells into the equivalent of embryonic stem cells, moving medicine one step closer to the use of these cells for the treatment of disease. Also in 2009, a team led by Dr. John Davies of the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering

title: Human embryonic stem cells clinical trials
text: will continue to monitor participants for fifteen years. Although no official results from the trial have been published, preliminary results from the clinical trial were presented at the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM) conference in October 2011. None of the participants experienced serious adverse events, although nausea and low magnesium were reported. In addition, no changes to the spinal cord or neurological condition were found. After investing millions of dollars in the research leading up to this trial, Geron Corporation discontinued the study in November 2011 to focus on cancer research. John Scarlett, Geron's chief executive officer, said "In

title: Ohio bioscience sector
text: Engineering Center, and the Cleveland Clinic, as well as its 30-year history of the research. In 1986, scientists from the Case Western University filed patents related to mesenchymal stem cells, creating the foundation internationally for this sector in cellular therapeutics. The first clinical trials in the United States involving mesenchymal stem cells occurred between 1996-2000 at the University Hospitals of Cleveland, while the hospital was also responsible for the first adult umbilical cord transplant in 1997, and the first adult stem-cell clinical trials in the country in 2003. Major regenerative medicine firms located in Cleveland include Osiris Therapeutics, started in

title: Catherine Verfaillie
text: Presidential Chair in Stem Cell Biology. She now leads the "Stamcel Instituut te Leuven" (SCIL) (E: Stem Cell Institute Leuven) at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Leuven, Belgium. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the Itinera Institute think-tank. The report was immediately sensational in scientific circles given that it was the first report of adult-derived stem cells to have properties previously ascribed to embryonic stem cell only. The report was immediately also heralded by conservative lawmakers opposed to embryonic stem cell research as proof that such research is not needed. Skepticism surrounded the announcement from the beginning:

title: Terra Incognita: The Perils and Promise of Stem Cell Research
text: injured in a skiing accident and paralyzed from the waist down. In the moments following the accident, Dr. Kessler made the decision to change the focus of his research to begin looking for a cure for spinal cord injuries using embryonic stem cells. Through Kessler's story, we bring the stem cell debate to the public for discussion. The film follows the constantly evolving interplay between the promise of new discoveries, the controversy of modern science and the resilience and courage of people living every day with devastating disease and injury. The film was directed by Maria Finitzo (5 Girls), and

title: Sean J. Morrison
text: self-renewal pathways in patients at different ages. His laboratory has further shown that in some cancers many tumor cells are capable of driving disease growth and progression while other cancers are driven by minority subpopulations of cancer cells that adopt stem cell characteristics. These insights into the cellular and molecular mechanisms of self-renewal have suggested new approaches for promoting normal tissue regeneration and cancer treatment. Morrison also has been active in public policy issues surrounding stem cell research. He has twice testified before the U.S. Congress and was a leader in the successful Proposal 2 campaign to protect stem cell

title: Natural scientific research in Canada
text: injury, Parkinson's disease, muscle degeneration, hemophilia and type 1 diabetes. It is hoped that research will lead to clinical applications for these afflictions by 2015. Stem cell research is also undertaken at the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine established in 2003 in Toronto as part of the University Health Network in 2003. In 2010, the McMaster University Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute announced that it had developed a technique for transforming skin cells into multiple blood cell types. This discovery may have applications for the treatment of leukemia, for it is anticipated that a patient with the disease may

title: Paul Knoepfler
text: Howard Temin Award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Knoepfler joined UC Davis in 2006 as an Assistant Professor, shortly after the formation of the California stem cell agency, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). His decision to move was influenced at least in part by the promise of CIRM to vitalize stem cell research in California. He received a $2 million New Faculty Award from CIRM in 2008. More recently, he received the GPI national stem cell advocacy award in 2013. Knoepfler has also received support from the March of Dimes via the Basil O'Connor Starter Scholar Research

title: Stem cell controversy
text: advances if less money and resources were channeled into embryonic stem cell research. Stem cell research is highly frowned upon in many ethnic and religious groups. In the past, it has been a necessity to research embryonic stem cells and in doing so destroy them for research to progress. As a result of the research done with both embryonic and adult stem cells, new techniques may make the necessity for embryonic cell research obsolete. Because many of the restrictions placed on stem cell research have been based on moral dilemmas surrounding the use of embryonic cells, there will likely be

title: Embryonic stem cell
text: on hold in August 2009 due to FDA concerns regarding a small number of microscopic cysts found in several treated rat models but the hold was lifted on July 30, 2010. In October 2010 researchers enrolled and administered ESTs to the first patient at Shepherd Center in Atlanta. The makers of the stem cell therapy, Geron Corporation, estimated that it would take several months for the stem cells to replicate and for the GRNOPC1 therapy to be evaluated for success or failure. In November 2011 Geron announced it was halting the trial and dropping out of stem cell research for

title: Stem-cell therapy
text: could focus on therapies in the "current environment of capital scarcity and uncertain economic conditions". In 2013 biotechnology and regenerative medicine company BioTime () acquired Geron's stem cell assets in a stock transaction, with the aim of restarting the clinical trial. Scientists have reported that MSCs when transfused immediately within few hours post thawing may show reduced function or show decreased efficacy in treating diseases as compared to those MSCs which are in log phase of cell growth(fresh), so cryopreserved MSCs should be brought back into log phase of cell growth in invitro culture before these are administered for clinical

title: Embryonic stem cell
text: financial reasons, but would continue to monitor existing patients, and was attempting to find a partner that could continue their research. In 2013 BioTime (), led by CEO Dr. Michael D. West, acquired all of Geron's stem cell assets, with the stated intention of restarting Geron's embryonic stem cell-based clinical trial for spinal cord injury research. BioTime company Asterias Biotherapeutics (NYSE MKT: AST) was granted a $14.3 million Strategic Partnership Award by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) to re-initiate the world’s first embryonic stem cell-based human clinical trial, for spinal cord injury. Supported by California public funds, CIRM