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A Profoundly Important Endeavor
10:43
President Lawrence H. Summers
Enormous Implications
3:16
Provost Steven E. Hyman, M.D.
A Great Need
7:26
David T. Scadden, M.D.
A Singular Goal
12:03
Professor Douglas A. Melton
Audience Question and Answer
21:39
Audience & Panel
David T. Scadden, M.D.
<div class="segmentText" align="left">From my perspective as a physician, the need for this work is now greater than ever. Stem cell research can make a difference in people's lives, and our efforts can serve as a paradigm for how we might ultimately be able to use many new developments in biology.<br> <br> </div> <div class="segmentText" align="left"> The concept is to either target or use stem cells to regenerate tissues. It's an idea that really is very singular and one that has a very pragmatic outcome. Achieving this outcome requires a structure and an organizing center that focuses on moving basic science into the context of patient care, engaging the full spectrum of the University community. Involvement in this process needs no further motivation than the care of individuals dealing with degenerative disease. In the aggregate, this effort affects tens of millions of individuals whose health care needs are largely unmet by current medical strategies. In the near future, these unmet needs will have a tremendous impact, not only on health care costs, but also on the overall productivity of our economy.<br> <br> </div> <div class="segmentText" align="left"> The diseases that we're dealing with are not the result of a simple microbe or even an individual genetic alteration but rather the loss of very specific cells. In many ways, the basis of this work is to try to use stem cells as regenerative tools. Stem cells have two identifying properties that make them unique: They have the capacity to renew themselves and to produce multiple types of differentiated cells. A blood-forming stem cell, for instance, is capable of producing all the different cells that make up the blood and immune system. This property was recognized very early on in medicine, and the first successful bone marrow stem cell transplant occurred in 1957.<br> <br> </div> <div class="segmentText" align="left"> Understanding the stem cells that are derived from different adult tissues will ultimately be useful in broader therapies besides just the bone marrow transplant. In addition, there is the possibility that we can begin to understand how stem cells are regulated and to develop medicines that are capable of being able to alter the control of those cells so they may be able to restore tissue function in a much more vigorous way than is currently possible. However, both these understandings will provide the basis for kinds of therapy that will really only scratch the surface of the problem. The true breakthrough technology is the embryonic stem cell. <br> <br> </div>
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