Photos courtesy of Coriell Institute of Medical Research
This spring Korea's Seoul National University announced plans to open a human embryonic stem cell bank. In the United States, the federal government is poised to fund a stem cell bank of different kind.
With $79 million (US) in funding over the next five years, bills under consideration by the US Senate and House would organize public cord blood banking, set new standards, and offer money to make it happen. The Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act of 2005 would set aside a significant proportion (10%) of donated units for research. "Part of what we think an improved national system will do is facilitate making units available for research, so we can go a lot farther in understanding how to use this resource," says Kristine M. Gebbie, the lead author of an April report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM), which was ...
