Pre-clinical research has generated some very promising findings using adult stem cells for the treatment of diabetic wounds. The research carried out by scientists at NUI Galway, is published in this month’s Diabetes the official journal of the American Diabetes Association.

Do the potential benefits of using embryonic stem cells to develop new medical treatments mean we have a moral obligation to support this type of research?  Should a patient’s potential contribution to society be taken into consideration when deciding who will be allocated a scarce resource such as an organ transplant?  Forty secondary school students from all corners of Ireland debate these thorny topics in the Debating Science Issues (DSI) competition. 

The All-Ireland Finals will take place on Friday, 22 February 2013 at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin. Funded by Discover Science & Engineering, Abbott Ireland, Boston Scientific and Pfizer, this All-Ireland project is coordinated by Danielle Nicholson, Outreach Officer at the Regenerative Medicine Institute (REMEDI) at NUI Galway in conjunction with 8 science research and discovery centres throughout Ireland- Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre, UCC; Biomedical Diagnostics Institute, DCU; CRANN in Trinity College Dublin; Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI),  W5 in Belfast, CLARITY at UCD, Cork Institute of Technology and the Centre for Cross Border Studies in Armagh.

We've enjoyed a successful 2012 of science, discussion, blogs, fact sheets, films and events. We know many of you have been discussing stem cell research in all kinds of ways too. Here's a short round-up of just some of the things our partners have been up to this year.

In this public forum, Professor Louise Gallagher at TCD will describe a new collaboration with the Regenerative Medicine Institute (REMEDI) at NUI Galway to advance stem cell research on autism.

The debate phase of the Debating Science Issues (DSI) 2013 competition has kicked off. Forty schools across the island of Ireland are currently participating.  Eight of these schools from the west of Ireland engaged in dialogue focussing on stem cell research at an interactive in school workshop facilitated by Danielle Nicholson, Outreach Officer at the Regenerative Medicine Institute (REMEDI) at NUI Galway and EuroStemCell.

This is part 3 of REMEDI scientist Mikey Creane's guest blog for EuroStemCell. Read Mikey's other posts.

How close are we to stem cell therapy?

Stem cells are a powerful technology with the potential to revolutionize medicine. They have provided scientists with ways of studying human biology and disease that weren't possible before.  A question I get asked regularly by my family and friends is “when can you give me some of your stem cells?” or “how long do you predict before they will be readily in use…?”