In a Tuesday night, July 21st segment entitled “Stem Cell Strides,” Fox News Television featured Hadassah Medical Center as “the world leader in stem cell research,” noting that Israeli scientists have charged ahead of the world and are making “some potentially serious strides” toward curing diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. The Fox News report relates that Israeli scientists are taking pluripotent cells—the building blocks of life—and turning them into brain, retina, heart, and pancreatic cells, which could potentially replace diseased tissue.
The segment highlights Prof. Benjamin Reubinoff, Director of Hadassah’s Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research Center, who explains how Hadassah’s manipulation of cells to model different diseases could help us understand how diseases evolve and tell us how to correct the disease state. The news report notes that some Israeli scientists predict there may well be treatment for formerly untreatable diseases “in as little as three year’s time.”
Prof. Reubinoff brings out, however, that there are hazards to overcome, such as the body’s rejection of the stem cells and the growth of tumors when stem cells are implanted.
