Science with Kris

摘要

Recently, there has been an increase in the reported numbers and types of human trials going on around the world to treat spinal cord injury. Some of the research has been widely publicized in the media, such as implants in China by Dr. Huang Hongyun, while other work, such as that by Dr. Mackay-Sim in Australia, is less well known. Most, but not all, rely on some type of 'progenitor' cell or cell that has retained its ability to live and/or grow in the adult state. Now the FDA recently approved the first trials using human embryonic stem cells in the United States following from animal experiments done by Hans Keirstead's group in California.