Leonard Zon, MD, the director of Stem Cell Research Program at Children’s Hospital Boston, is interviewed in this NPR story that recaps a decade of stem cell research.
So where does the science of embryonic stem cells stand after a decade of political wrangling? A lot of exciting basic research is being done with embryonic stem cells, says Len Zon, a stem cell researcher at Children’s Hospital in Boston. But using stem cells for therapy?
“I think that’s still a ways off,” Zon says. “Although there are some studies that the FDA is considering, I think we still have to figure out how to make these cells in a more efficient and effective way, and I think that’s going to take awhile. You have to remember that the stem cell field is only 10 years old at the moment.”
Zon points out that it’s frequently two decades or more before new medical technologies find their way into patients.
