TOS Blog: Daily Commentary from an Objectivist Perspective

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Stem Cell Research Offers New Hope for Repairing Brain Damage

Posted by Ari Armstrong at 7:30 am ET

Thanks to new research with embryonic stem cells, doctors may one day be able to transplant neurons developed from stem cells into patients who suffer brain damage, including Alzheimer’s patients.

Connie K. Ho reports for RedOrbit.com:

Researchers from the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute [and other research centers] recently discovered that neurons developed from stem cells can boost brain activity following transplantation with a laboratory model. The findings show that the cells could possibly be used in the future to treat Alzheimer’s disease and other types of neurodegenerative illnesses. . . . In the study, the team of investigators transplanted neurons from human stem cells into a rodent hippocampus. . . .

Although repairing damaged brain tissue in humans remains a distant goal, with this research scientists are moving markedly closer to it. Thanks to the work of such innovative and pioneering men and women, diseases such as Alzheimer’s may one day be studied only in textbooks, rather than in millions of patients actually suffering from such afflictions.

Like this post? Join our mailing list to receive our weekly digest. And for in-depth commentary from an Objectivist perspective, subscribe to our quarterly journal, The Objective Standard.

Related:

Image: iStockPhoto

Posted in: Science and Technology

Comments are welcome so long as they are civil.
  • http://www.facebook.com/david.blankenau David Blankenau

    I wonder how far along we would be with this research had there NOT been interference by government (and religious groups). I lost my mother on Nov. 14 from Alzheimer’s, so I can’t help but wonder if it would have made a difference for her.

    Anyway, this is great news, Ari; Thank you for reporting it. I hope that someday,with continued research such as this, horrible diseases like Alzheimer’s can be eradicated.

  • http://www.facebook.com/erik.jerde.3 Firehammer Roark

    Man can use stem cells from non-embryo sources. It is disgusting and Nazi-esque to farm developing humans.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=name&id=100000501085308 Martin Lundqvist

    The premise that an embryo is a seperate human is incorrect; it is a small part that parasitically exists as part of the woman bearing it.