re: #75 Charles

I agree that both lines of research should be pursued. But from what I’ve read, embryonic stem cells are still much more promising than reverted stem cells.

I think they’re important for research purposes. For actual disease treatment, my feeling is less optimistic. There have been no restrictions in place in other countries, and I’m not aware of any practical outcomes that have resulted yet.

As a tool for learning about how cells develop and differentiate, though, I agree that they’re valuable.

I suspect that the first practical treatments to emerge won’t involve organs or even cells grown for transplant, but the discovery of ways to prod the patient’s body into manipulating it’s own supply of stem cells to differentiate and migrate to the desired area. Those salamanders who regrow their own tails and limbs, for example, don’t need an external beaker to work with; they use their own cells, and somehow trigger growth and differentiation all by themselves.