|
|
New Danish Stem Cell School On The Way
Monday, 06 January 2003
A new school for stem-cell researchers in Denmark
could propel the country to the global fore in stem-cell research. After
the first of the year, a new school for domestic and international
stem-cell researchers is slated to open its new headquarters at the
University of Southern Denmark in Odense.
"The research school will enable younger researchers from Denmark
and abroad to seek new knowledge. We have been able to secure an
international panel of advisers and top-quality researchers, including Ian
Wilmut, who cloned Dolly the Sheep," Professor Zimmer Rasmussen
told Ritzau.
Both the Danish Centre for Stem Cell Research, which opened in the
spring of 2002, and the newly-founded research school currently base their
research on mature stem cells, which are found in the umbilical cord blood,
liver, brain, and bone marrow. But Danish researchers are lobbying for the
right for research fertilised eggs from the early embryonic stages: eggs
left over from fertility treatments which are currently frozen and
subsequently destroyed. Research efforts will aim to develop more reliable
treatments for conditions such as diabetes and Parkinson's Disease.
"No one can say with certainty which cells are best. But at the
moment, our greatest hopes rest on embryonic cells, because they can
develop into cells of any type. We want to use these cells to create a cell
bank that could conceivably treat several diseases in one turn. If we
aren't allowed to research embryonic cells, an enormous potential will be
cut off to us, and we'll fall behind countries like Sweden and England,
where this kind of research is already permitted. Right now, the British
are preparing to co-ordinate European research in the field, and it would
be unfortunate if Denmark couldn't participate," said Zimmer
Rasmussen.
|
|
