This meeting was attended by clinical and research folks from all over the world. The presentations related how certain research findings might be used to improve treatments. However, sometimes the scientific evidence is so basic that anyone could understand it, not just some stuffy scientists. This was one such meeting. I noticed several posters talking about what stem cells can become.
Stem cells are cells that can become many tissues and organs.
The idea has been that these cells could be used to repair damaged organs or correct inherited disease. Parkinson's disease is caused because the cells that die make a substance called dopamine without which movement is often jerky or even impossible. Some people who have this disease cannot move at all. Conventional treatment involves taking dopamine pills. However, in other countries, investigators have injected embryonic stem cells into the brain that have been able to regrow and replace the cells that make dopamine allowing patients with this disease to have less problems with moving.