Cell of Cells: The Global Race to Capture and Control the Stem Cell

Science News,  May 12, 2007  

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CELL OF CELLS: The Global Race to Capture and Control the Stem Cell CYNTHIA FOX

Despite a ban on the use of U.S.-government funds for creating and experimenting on new lines of human embryonic stem cells, progress is occurring in this highly promising field, Fox asserts. A science writer, she surveys current efforts to harness stem cells to cure diseases ranging from heart ailments to blindness, dementias, and cancer. The international race to isolate the first embryonic stem cell began only within the past decade, the author points out. Fox reviews the political climate affecting this area of science and notes how it leads to an unusual interplay among scientists at conferences, where researchers who work on adult stern cells seem pitted against those who study embryonic stem cells. Stem cell science is robust, Fox Concludes, despite strong religious and political pressures against it. Norton, 2007, 546 p., hardcover, $26.95.

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