The Stem Cell Cynic?

Let's talk about stem cells; everyone else is. Here, and here, and here... Oh wait, they're all the same story. (You can hardly tell.)

A couple of years ago I wrote an assignment for uni reviewing the Australian legislation on using embryonic stem cells for research purposes. Ever since then I've thought of stem cell research as a bit of media over-inflated hype. The 'hyped hope' over a cure for all degenerative disease seemed sadly unjustified.

Researching for my assignment, I remember feeling increasingly bogged down by the details as I plowed through piles and piles of paper that all seemed to be saying the thing. Yes, stem cells have the potential to turn into any type of cell. Brain cells, kidney cells, heart cells. That's all well and good, but getting them to do what you want them to do in a culture dish, let alone inside a living person, seems to be the hard part.

And there's so much emotional hype about it all! But to be honest I always thought that it was a bit of an argument over nothing, because if there's any way forward in stem cell research, it's not with embryonic stem cells, but with more differentiated cells--those that are further down the path towards their destination.

In this recent study, they used adult skin cells and managed to turn them into neurons. That truly is fascinating, because it shows that it's never too late for change. Nothing in the human body is as straight forward as orderly as we think it is.

Perhaps I have been overly cynical about stem cells. I still think that 'hype' is more justified than 'hope', but I'm willing to review my 'stem cell status'.