When scientists are a little secretive about an exciting new finding, it's hard to know whether a major advance has taken place. Before the research has been published and the real evidence is in the public domain, the scientific community is often understandably wary of breakthroughs. But it doesn't usually stop the media getting excited.
But no such excitement has been noticeable since PPL Therapeutic's announcement that it has managed to de-differentiate cow skin cells back to an embryonic-like state and encourage them to develop into heart cells. Instead, PPL's apparent breakthrough, described less than a year ago as the 'Holy Grail' of stem cell research, prompted a handful of news stories in Saturday's newspapers and news websites.
One explanation for this apparent media disinterest could be the lack of any published research. PPL, because of a patent application, will not be publishing the research until later in the year. But a lack of peer-reviewed research hasn't prevented media interest in the past, the sequencing of the human genome being the most high-profile instance.
A more likely explanation might be that whilst the development is very exciting and could speed up the arrival of stem cell based therapies, it does not involved cloning or the creation of embryos. As a result, its ability to grab the headlines is limited. A heading in the Daily Telegraph managed to erroneously mention the word cloning, even though the article made it clear that cloning was not involved in the experiment.
Perhaps it's not such a bad thing that the story didn't receive widespread attention. As PPL makes clear, the research is in its early stages and has yet to be attempted in humans. In the meantime, research using human embryos - even cloned human embryos - should continue in tandem. But here's hoping that stem cell researchers continue to surprise us and reach that Holy Grail ahead of schedule.
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