At the same time that Britain’s embryo researchers are complaining of budget cuts to their research, experiments with adult stem cells continue to bear fruit, with a possible cure for blindness on the near horizon.The UK Stem Cell Foundation and Scottish Enterprise, in partnership with the Chief Scientist Office, have been given the green light to begin trials this month using adult stem cells that could potentially restore vision to patients with corneal blindness. The planned clinical trial with around 20 patients represents a major step forward for stem cell therapies that often take years of animal testing to bring to human trials.
The treatment involves the transplantation of stem cells on to the surface of the cornea to replace diseased cells in the eye of a patient with chronic corneal disease. Lead researcher Professor Bal Dhillon, consultant ophthalmic surgeon at the Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion in Edinburgh, said, “This study is the first of its kind in Scotland and it is exciting to be involved in such ground-breaking work.
“Piloting the use of limbal stem-cell transplantation is a great landmark in the treatment of patients suffering from corneal blindness.”
At the same time, other researchers are complaining that after years of lobbying the government for laws allowing it, embryonic research, including the creation and use of human/animal hybrid clones, is having its funding cut. Some scientists are accusing funding bodies of holding vestigial moral objections to the idea of creating cow/human or rabbit/human chimeras in their funding decisions.
Professor Stephen Minger of King’s College London, one of three licence holders in the UK allowed to create animal-human hybrid embryos for the creation of stem cells, told the Independent, “People reviewing grants may be looking at this from a completely different moral perspective and how much that has influenced people’s perception about whether this should be funded, we don’t know.”
Professor Minger said his work has not started a year after receiving a license to proceed by the British Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).
“The problem has been a lack of funding. We haven’t been able to buy equipment, £80,000 to £90,000-worth. We put in a grant proposal last year but it wasn’t successful and we’re dead in the water. We’re discussing whether it is worth the time to re-submit our application,” he said.
The Independent reports that some research projects have “ground to a halt” due to lack of funds. Two research councils, the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), have refused applications for funding to do research that has been licensed by the HFEA.
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
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http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jun/05062409.html
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