Six weeks before the hoopla over president barack Obama's executive order lifting restrictions on embryonic-stem-cell research, Hans Keirstead, a scientist at the University of California, Irvine, was already sipping champagne. In 2005 Keirstead had published a study showing that a therapy derived from human embryonic stem cells could make partially paralyzed rats walk. Now he'd gotten word that the FDA had cleared the way for Geron, a small biotech company in California, to launch the first clinical trial of the treatment in human beings with spinal-cord injuries. It was incredible news, not just for Keirstead, who'd been wanting to invent a therapy for brain and spinal-cord disorders since he was 11 years old, but for scientistswho believe human embryonic stem cells can teach them about complex diseases and potentially lead to cures. Keirstead, 41, and his team of scientists hailed the news over a case of chilled Veuve Clicquot. "We put the last bottle down about six hours later," Keirstead says. "It was just a really fun time."
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