I am currently an undergraduate at the University of Florida, and when I read Joseph Perpich's article about the Human Cell Project,1 I almost couldn't believe it. His comments with respect to expression studies of stem cells under different conditions were a near-perfect reflection of studies I aspire to perform while attending graduate school at University of Wisconsin-Madison starting in the fall. I have come to adopt the belief that if stem cells are to truly fulfill the role of the greatest medical treatment possibility ever discovered, more needs to be learned about them than what happens when you throw some growth factors at them.
A fundamental understanding of the development procedures and controls not only needs to be explored, but also understood with complete and distinct detail before any real applications can be developed. I know that stem cells have tremendous potential, but I fear that hype and hearsay ...
