GERN, ASTM, et al..Friday's (December 18, 1998) issue of Science, a special issue dedicated to "Breakthroughs of the year" has a feature article entitled:
"EMBRYOLOGY:
Immortal Cells Spawn Ethical
Concerns"
This brief article delves into the groundbreaking work of GERN and other companies involved in stem cell research. It specifically mentions GERN.
One of the paragraphs in the article is:
If the cells live up to their promise, they could lead the way to custom transplant tissues that won't trigger a
patient's often-lethal immune response. Already these techniques have produced replacement cells that were
successfully grafted onto a damaged mouse heart, and analogous experiments may be tried before long on a
human heart. Eventually, lab-grown neurons may be transplanted into the brains of people with Parkinson's
disease. For now, the cells will be used mainly to study human development and gene expression and test
cellular reactions to candidate drugs.
Because of copyright restrictions, I will not quote the whole article...get your own on-line subscription...it is well worth the cost...
Geron is mentioned,SPECIFICALLY AND EXCLUSIVELY, in this article. The US government is currently debating the federal funding of stem cell research, as I reported before, under the leadership of Senator Specter of Pennsylvania. However, earlier articles indicate that stem cells, at least as harvested by Geron, will almost definitely be qualified for research under federal funding because they are derived from fetal material rather than embrios.
This is big for GERN, and others, I suspect, including ASTM.
It will be a few days before the paper copies of Science hit the streets, but I see a bright future for the likes of GERN, ASTM, and, undoubtedly, others.
Just as the internet's were this year's giants, the biotechs will be next year's giants.
And, FWIW, Kernan has a biotech background.
Ed
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