While showing images of American movie stars on a slideshow, Dame Julia Polak said regenerative medicine is not about generating perfect bodies or living forever, despite what newspapers may say.
“Regenerative medicines are about (generating) a long, healthy life for everyone,” Polak said. “We are not good at regenerating ourselves. Some scars we have stay for years. We lose capacity to regenerate.”
Polak, professor and chairman of the department of histochemistry at Imperial College School of Medicine in London and the Hammersmith Hospital director, was invited by the university distinguished lecture series committee of Texas A&M to give a lecture on stem cell research at the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center last night.
Polak said there are three ways to help the body heal itself: replacement, such as organ transplantation; reparation, which involves cell therapy; and regeneration, commonly understood as stem cell research.
Polak’s said stem cells are not a priority in the field of research for improving the human body, but are a promising means to treat a variety of diseases or injuries including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and spinal cord damages. A recent well-known victim of paralysis was actor Christopher Reeve, who was a tireless advocate on stem cell research.
Polak said stem cells can come from embryos, fetuses, bone marrow, umbilical cord blood and even fat.
Polak said British scientists are allowed to research on all possible cell lines, in contrast with the United States, where only 60 stem cell lines are allowed to be researched due to ethical consideration.
William Hyman, professor and interim chair of the department of biomedical engineering met Polak in London last year. He found out that she would be coming to Houston, Texas, as a visiting scholar for a collaborative research program.
“I brought the opportunity forward to the university distinguished lectures series committee,” Hyman said.
Polak said A&M can make progress in stem cell research because it has departments for medicine, engineering, life sciences and physical sciences.”I am quite confident (about the stem cells research),” Polak said. “The more questions it raises, the more (research) would be done.”
David Dunton, a senior environmental design major and president of Aggies for Life said AFL opposes processes that destroy innocent human lives.
“Current fetal stem cell research always destroys the fully human embryo,” Dunton said. “AFL does not oppose all forms of stem cell research, only those that end lives. No scientific ‘advancement’ justifies murder.”