Embryonic stem cell research gets green light

[honeychile]

Overseas, they use fat cells (such as from liposuction) instead of embryonic stem cells. That sounds more like a win-win situation to me.

[Honeykiss1974]

Originally Posted by honeychile

Overseas, they use fat cells (such as from liposuction) instead of embryonic stem cells. That sounds more like a win-win situation to me.

And we definitely have plenty of those here in the US.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by honeychile

Overseas, they use fat cells (such as from liposuction) instead of embryonic stem cells. That sounds more like a win-win situation to me.

Here is a link to an article about this- http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...1210122254.htm

Luckily, however, we can now investigate all options rather than ones that the government deems appropriate...science should be left to the discretion of the scientists not government officials with no science training.

[LttleMsPrEp]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

Luckily, however, we can now investigate all options rather than ones that the government deems appropriate...science should be left to the discretion of the scientists not government officials with no science training.

Agree.

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

Here is a link to an article about this- http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...1210122254.htm

Luckily, however, we can now investigate all options rather than ones that the government deems appropriate...science should be left to the discretion of the scientists not government officials with no science training.

Well,...in some branches, government funding pays for science and they go hand in hand with each other...There are indeed scientists who work within the government that decides where taxpayer money should go for research and development.

Your Veterans Affairs system is one such area.

[epchick]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

Your Veterans Affairs system is one such area.

Oh and they're doing such a great job

[AGDee]

I would say the NIH is a better example than Veterans Affairs. The NIH reviewers for grant monies are actually scientists/epidemiologists/biostatisticians who are working in the field and who agree to be part of the study sections to review grant applications and score them. The highest scores get the grant money. They don't review applications from their own institutions and are never really sure how high a score needs to be to get the money. In recent years, funding has decreased so scores have had to be really high to get funding. It's a pretty good system though.

[AKA_Monet]

Originally Posted by AGDee

I would say the NIH is a better example than Veterans Affairs. The NIH reviewers for grant monies are actually scientists/epidemiologists/biostatisticians who are working in the field and who agree to be part of the study sections to review grant applications and score them. The highest scores get the grant money. They don't review applications from their own institutions and are never really sure how high a score needs to be to get the money. In recent years, funding has decreased so scores have had to be really high to get funding. It's a pretty good system though.

The grants are scored by a percentile rank and there is a payline. So a score of 100 or below with a payline of 80 will get funded. There is also a propensity of new researchers getting "first awards". The issue with that is, new researchers do not always have the support systems in place or the networking skills available to produce publishable bodies of work like senior researchers...

These days though, EVERYBODY is definitely NOT getting funding unless you cure a disease and you are the flavor of the month...

I KNOW THIS PROCESS ALL TO WELL!!! LOL!!! Enough reasons for leaving the field...

Oh, and the peer reviewer cores in the molecular side is VERY misogynistic, homophobic, racist, sexist and elitist.

So some top diseases will not be determined if you are in the "in crowd"--often driven by politics...

Basically, we are playing catch up to other countries who have been doing human embryonic stem cells for ~8 years now...

[PhiGam]

Great news, now is a great time to invest in Stem Cell research companies.
And for the record: We should use embryonic cells as well and I think we'll see a shift that way. The fact that Obama opposed a partial birth abortion ban as a legislator leads me to think that he'll give the green light to embryonic stem cell research.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

Well,...in some branches, government funding pays for science and they go hand in hand with each other...There are indeed scientists who work within the government that decides where taxpayer money should go for research and development.

Your Veterans Affairs system is one such area.

But it's not the VA or NIH who are saying that we shouldn't fund stem cell research. That is a purely political dictum!

[Thetagirl218]

Originally Posted by honeychile

Overseas, they use fat cells (such as from liposuction) instead of embryonic stem cells. That sounds more like a win-win situation to me.

Agreed. While I am in favor of stem cell research, I am not in favor of the use of embryonic cells.

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by Thetagirl218

Agreed. While I am in favor of stem cell research, I am not in favor of the use of embryonic cells.