“At its heart, the ongoing legal battle to block US federal funding for research on human embryonic stem (ES) cells seeks to protect embryos. But Nature has learned that in a bitter irony, the dispute seems to be holding up research on lines of human ES cells that can be derived without destroying embryos …” (more)
[Heidi Ledford, Nature, 14 March]
“The European Court of Justice today issued a preliminary opinion that procedures involving established human embryonic stem (hES) cell lines are not patentable …” (more)
[Alison Abbott , Nature, 10 March]
“Fine Gael’s stance on stem cell research will further isolate Irish scientists who already work in a legal vacuum, Nature magazine has warned …” (more)
[Susan Mitchell, Sunday Business Post, 6 March]
“Dr Stephen Sullivan (Feb 18) calls for legislation to regulate the use of stem cells in Ireland. Dr Sullivan is a Director of the Irish Stem Cell Foundation, a group that campaigns on behalf of embryonic stem cell research …” (more)
[William Reville, Irish Examiner, 2 March]
“The Fianna Fail party, in power in Ireland since 1997, had supported science well enough over the last decade or so to allow the small country to dramatically raise its international profile. This year it even scraped into the top twenty science-producing countries in terms of citations per research paper. Irish scientists now have to worry about whether this progress will be maintained under Fine Gael …” (more)
[Alison Abbott, The Great Beyond, 28 February]
“Fine Gael policy department confirmed to me today that they are opposed to embryological stem cell research. I specifically asked if that means that Fine Gael in government will defund existing stem cell research …” (discussion thread)
[Politics.ie, 21 February]
“The current void of stem cell legislation in Ireland puts patients at unnecessary risk and expense, deters investment and expertise coming to Ireland, allows the general public to be easily confused about stem cells, and impairs Ireland’s capacity to do internationally competitive R&D in a growing number of areas …” (more)
[Stephen Sullivan, Irish Examiner, 18 February]
“This has been floating around Twitter, someone on Boards.ie sent FG an email asking them about a few social issues and got this response …” (discussion thread)
[Politics.ie, 17 February]
“The Labour manifesto also confirms the party’s intention to regulate scientific stem cell research. #ge11” (tweet)
[RTÉ Election, 11 February]
“The legal tangle over the status of human embryonic stem cell research in the United States has slowed stem cell research as a whole, reports a survey released today in Cell Stem Cell …” (more)
[Erika Check Hayden, The Great Beyond, 2 February]
“For the past several years, scientists who see limitless medical benefits from stem-cell research have battled through hard limits to their ability to pursue their work. The problem is not just the political debate on whether such research is ethical …” (more)
[Paul Basken, Chronicle of Higher Education, 24 January]
“The attempt by two adult stem cell researchers to quash US funding for human embryonic stem cell research reached a critical juncture this morning, as a high-profile appeals court heard key oral arguments in the case …” (more)
[Meredith Wadman, The Great Beyond, 6 December]
“Disgraced South Korean cloning scientist Hwang Woo-suk was found guilty last Monday of embezzling from his stem cell research fund and illegally buying human embryos. The Seoul court also ruled that Hwang, 56, who became a national hero after he claimed to be the first to successfully clone human stem cells, had partially fabricated the results of his research …” (more)
[Ju-min Park, University World News, 1 November]
“Debunking false medical claims, educating the public and lobbying government will be key aims of a new body launching today, the Irish Stem Cell Foundation. A group of Irish doctors and scientists has established the foundation and opened a website, http://www.irishstemcellfoundation.org, that goes live today. ‘We are an independent, not-for-profit organisation. We want to give the facts as scientific facts’, stated co-founder Dr Stephen Sullivan …” (more)
[Dick Ahlstrom, Irish Times, 23 October]
“Researchers at a conference in Sweden nearly fell off their chairs earlier this month when a Spanish scientist described stem cell-supported surgery that saw a woman’s cancerous trachea removed, operated on in another country, and then restored to her. Professor Paolo Macchiarini of the University of Barcelona described the surgery, which involved laboratories in the UK and Italy in addition to a clinic in Barcelona, at the Knowledge Triangle conference in Gothenburg …” (more)
[Jan Petter Myklebust, University World News, 20 September]
“A €3.5 million EU funded collaborative research project aimed at revolutionising the processing of high quality adult stem cells has been launched at NUI Galway. Stem cells have shown tremendous potential for the repair and regeneration of a large range of tissues and organs. However, the translation of this potential into functional clinical therapies requires large numbers of stem cells, explains a spokesperson for the university. ‘PurStem [the title of the project] aims to develop methods for producing adult stems calls in a safe and effective manner on an industrial scale suitable for clinical applications’ …” (more)
[Mary O’Connor, Galway Advertiser, 7 May]
“Stem-cell research, currently the hottest topic in biology, is developing at lightning speed. The latest branch of this research was born in 2006 when Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University demonstrated a technique that turns ordinary body cells into cells that closely resemble embryonic stem cells. The products of the new technique are called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. Since Yamanaka’s breakthrough, milestone publications have appeared, developing the iPS cell technique and demonstrating its potential for medical therapy …” (more)
[William Reville, Irish Times, 30 April]
Ninth Level Ireland 