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The Stem Cell Dream
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| Can umbilical cord
blood stem cells be used to treat diseases like Parkinson’s disease? Are these treatments safe? Why aren’t they available in Britain? What do scientists, patients and regulators say? |
 Around one hundred and fifty people watched film clips, heard from scientists, regulators and patients, and voted on the issues at The Stem Cell Dream, an interactive, dialogue-based event. |
| On arrival, audience members had the chance to read a mock news story about a biotechnology company’s application for a clinical trial using umbilical cord blood stem cells to treat Parkinson’s disease. |
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Read
the mock news story| The audience were invited to vote on whether the trial should go ahead, based on the limited information they have received. | Vote 1: results (link opens in new window) |
| The panel then presented their views on the case presented, with the aid of clips from A Stem Cell Story and Conversations: Ethics, Science, Stem Cells, two film produced by EuroStemCell. A round of questions and answers and discussion with the audience followed. |  |
| Finally, the audience were invited to vote again on the trial. | Vote 2: results (link opens in new window) |
Members of the audience also voted on how they had changed their votes, if at all, on their view on stem cell research and gave their feedback about the event itself. |
See results (link opens in new window) |
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The
event was chaired by Quentin Cooper, journalist and presenter on BBC
Radio, once described by The Times as 'the world's most enthusiastic
man'. Not that the speakers on the panel were any less enthusiastic: |
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Austin Smith, Director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Stem Cell Research of the University of Cambridge (a leading stem cell scientist and formerly director of ISCR) |
| Heather Cubie, Director of Research and Development at NHS Lothian (a virologist turned regulator, recognised internationally for her work on the Human Papillomavirus) | |
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Alistair Newton, Secretary General of the European Federation of Neurological Associations (to name but one of the many patient and scientific organisations his activities have brought involvement in). |
This event was organised by ISCR/Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine and Eurostemcell, with support from a Small Project Grant of the University of Edinburgh Development Trust.
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