2005 to today -- Stem Cells: how far have we come?

In June of 2005, National Geographic’s cover posed the challenging question “Stem Cells:  How Far Will We Go?”

Can you believe it’s been 5 years?

Here at Stinson Brand Innovation, it seems like only yesterday we were working with Baxter Cellular Therapies to educate cardiologists on its promising research in adult autologous stem cells.

And in the pages of National Geographic we read, “The dream is to launch a medical revolution in which ailing organs and tissues might be repaired - not with crude mechanical devices like insulin pumps and titanium joints but with living, homegrown replacements. It would be the dawn of a new era of regenerative medicine, one of the holy grails of modern biology.”

The article continued, “In such varied political climates, scientists around the globe are racing to see which techniques will produce treatments soonest. Their approaches vary, but on one point, all seem to agree: How humanity handles its control over the mysteries of embryo development will say a lot about who we are and what we're becoming.”

So I think a question for us to consider now is, "How far have we come?"