Geron Official Affirms iPS Cells Are the Future of Stem Cell Research

On a Sunday morning national news broadcast, Mike West, an official at Geron Corporation, effusively affirmed that ethical iPS cells are the future of stem cell research. West stated several times that iPS cells are without controversy and the path which unites scientists and the country to pursue promising stem cell research to treat debilitating illnesses.

West described for a national audience how four molecules are used to take ordinary cells and turn them back to their embryonic state, resulting in iPS cells. No one has to die in this reprogramming process.

Geron Corporation, located in California, has been a major player in embryonic stem cell research. Earlier this year, Geron was given clearance by the FDA to conduct the first human embryonic stem cell trials. That’s why it was so interesting to hear West speak approvingly of ethical iPS cell research as the future.

West’s statements also corroborate what Wisconsin Right to Life and others stated last week following Obama’s reversal of the Bush policy prohibiting federal funding to kill more human embryos: Obama is turning back the clock and using ideology to trump science.

Barbara Lyons