Stem-Cell-Coated Contact Lenses Are Curing the Blind

There is a group of physicians, patients and other interested people working together to get treatment with adult stem cells legalized in the U.S. as it should be. The organization was formed in response to the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) recent position that the adult stem cells found in everyone’s body are drugs. A person's cells (autologous) should be their own and NOT regulated by the FDA. That is one of the major reasons why most stem cell clinics are overseas. This stance is ridiculous and is costing millions of lives while sick Americans wait for the use of their own stem cells which would improve their quality of life. The FDA is not protecting us, but hurting us. Please ask your family and friends to sign up ("JOIN"), and get as many doctors to sign up as well. Please see The American Stem Cell Therapy Association (ASCTA) site and the associated Safe Stem Cells Now patient site. If enough people sign up and show a protest to this thing, the FDA will have to back down. They have no right to claim your own tissue is a "drug" to be regulated by them in the first place.

Patient Site: www.safestemcells.org

Physician Site: www.stemcelldocs.org

My gratitude to all the stem-cell researchers.Unfortunately the FDA will find a way to make a profit from this.You say it is simple and affordable,but here in America we know we will have to pay through the nose for the treatment;Welcome to America the country of creed and great sorrow.Cure is a dirty word to the big-boys that control the FDA.In the land of the free,we are all fooled thinking we actually matter;We do,but only if we are sick.Please do go to the site suggested above.Thank you bird5 for sharing.

A woman's body is her own but her stem cells are not? That's totally weird.

This is just awesome way to go wish we had that freedom in the US with stem cells

I think this treatment will be a great medical advancement. Most people in the U.S. do not have any problem with stem cell research. The thing that starts the controversy is the use of embryonic stem cells.

I sincerely hope that this treatment is approved for common use and allow those who would not normally be sighted to see (or see again).

This type of research into stem cell use is not a problem and not illegal. Never has been. You folks are using the wrong terminology.
dray

Once again, great strides are being made with adult stem cells and absolutely no progress has been shown with embryonic. Please point one out to me if I am mistaken.

I'm happy to see other nations are taking the lead in stem cell research. It will take a few more decades until the United States Government wakes up and when they do, they will see more and more Americans going overseas to have thier lives saved. Shame.. Darn Shame.

How can those people in Washington sleep at night knowing that researchers all over the world are finding new ways to use stem cells to save lives? Someone tell me, please.

@swim_bub: The problem is the origin of embryonic stem cells. Not just their capabilities... It's been proven years ago that stem cells can "fix" many things. The advantage of embryonic cells is the fact we can "mold" them into anything we want, for anyone we want. Adult stem cells are much more limited in the applications (generally only helping the individual they came from...) Embryonic cells can help everyone, adult stem cells cant. That's a major advantage if you ask me! So to answer your progress question- researchers are limited in the states to only work on certain cells, therefore you hear about those breakthroughs more often. Simple as that; embryonic cells can do just as much and more than adult cells...

Nancy Reagan is also a vigorous supporter of stem cell research. She has argued expanded stem cell research could have helped her husband, who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. Nancy Reagan, spouse of the late President Ronald Reagan, went to the White House to meet with Michelle Obama and President Obama. She praised Obama for reversing the ban on stem cell research. The President had made some disparaging remarks about Mrs. Reagan and her attending a séance, and he later apologized, trying to repair credit. (Mrs. Reagan had consulted with astrologers during Reagan's term.) The remark was intended as tongue-in-cheek, but lost on many. She was honored at a White House lunch, part of the ceremonies was a new statue of Ronald Reagan. To read more about the issue, you may visit http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2009/06/02/nancy-reagan-barack-obama/.

I have just never heard of a single successful application of embryonic - worldwide. At the same time, I have heard of unsuccessful and deadly applications - uncontrolled tumorous growths and the like.

highdobb- I believe you are mistaken. While embryonic stem cells can develope into any type of cell, their dna is specific to the person they came from ( who no longer has use for them. ) For anyone else, there are problems with rejection. Those problems may get solved one day, but they have not been solved yet.

Adult stem cells, to be generally useful, must be reverted to a pluripotent state. Progress has been made in this area, but I'm not sure how much.

So the question of which is better comes down to which problem ( rejection vs. reverting to pluripotency ) is easier to solve. And which is easier might be different depending on the specific application.

Fortunately research and information is global (good job Australia) so that valuable efforts being hampered in one country will not slow down the work globally. Stem cell research is a great example of this and work continue unabated without the US.
Hopefully with the US more fully back into stem cell research, we can speed-up badly needed medical solutions and improve the quality of life for the earth.

Subject for more research:

Could this be used to rejuvenate older eyes (presbyopia) and eliminate the need for reading glasses?

I'd volunteer for the study in a heartbeat!!!!

John

Well done. Using the contact lens to grow a sheet of stem cells and then transferiing it to a previously differentiated substrate to create replacement cells is brilliant.

This looks like another step forward in using stem cells with previously differentiated substrates. Aces!

Boatman

Very cool, it's only a matter of time before everything can be regenerated using our own body's cells... who knew we always had it in ourselves ;) LOL geeze that was cheesy =/

Can it help a cornea scarred by shingles?
I'd like to try that.

Ignorance is Bliss: I looked it up, you're wrong.
Example from NPR:
Can adult stem cells do everything embryonic stem cells do, but without controversy?

Unlikely.
All stem cells have certain capabilities. They can divide and renew themselves for long periods; they are unspecialized (which means they are not a specific type of cell); and they have the ability to give rise to specialized cells.
Embryonic stem cells are obtained from human embryos. They have the capacity to turn into any cell type in the body. Adult stem cells have been found in some mature human tissues, including the brain and bone marrow. There is a scientific debate over whether their ability to become specialized is limited to their tissue of origin, or whether they can turn into other types of tissue.
Adult stem cells have proven their value to medicine. For example, bone marrow transplants are routinely used to treat some cancers and blood diseases. But it's unlikely that bone marrow stem cells can replace all of the different types of cells that are damaged by disease. Embryonic stem cells are the only ones that are likely to do that.

This is a great medical achievement. Not sure how I feel about stems cells though. It has great positives, but feel like we are playing god here.

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ryan-t: We've been playing god roles for a while if you ask me, including inception.

I can see that lots of people now are not like to use contact lenses, it not good for their eyes.
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It means that the stem cells into the contact Lens inside? This is a good method, which enables people do not accept the same surgery can restore vision.I know the market there are many high-tech contact lenses,You can go and see www.firmoo.com

Fortunately research and information is global (good job Australia) so that valuable efforts being hampered in one country will not slow down the work globally. Stem cell research is a great example of this and work continue unabated without the US. www.mmohut.com

Stem cell research is a very exciting area where we are likely to see huge leaps in the medical field over the next few years. Although its been around since the 60's when it was first discovered by Canadian scientists it only really had remarkable advancement in the past few years because of technology. I think although there are many ethical arguments against its development the good that can actually come from the technology far outweighs the negative side. Hopefully we will see stem cell use extend from bone marrow transplants over the next few years to all the other fields that are being experimented with at the moment.

www.thebeadstalk.co.uk

By providing the raw material for virtually every kind of human tissue, new treatments for a wide range of human diseases including diabetes, heart disease, some forms of cancer, and Parkinson's disease can now be developed.

This research also benefits the study of development events that cannot be studied directly in a human embryo, which would cause major clinical consequences such as birth defects, infertility and pregnancy loss. www.aresvista.com

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These stem cells will certainly revolutionize the medical world. It will regenerate all of them starting. Any body.
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That's good news to all blinds friend.Hope it come out soon,and cheap enough.
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Now more and more poor eye sight, long-term computer use in the office environment
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I can't wait! I really would love to repair my eyes

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Cool, that would be nice if it could fix near or far sightedness.

Its pretty amazing the things that stem cells can do. Personally I'm looking forward to a time when a procedure like this is widely available ... which hopefully isn't too far away.
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Stem cell research is a very exciting area where we are likely to see huge leaps in the medical field over the next few years. Looks like a great blog. I can see that everyone has participated. I currently work for both
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San Diego Electricians which helps me to be able to help people everyday.

Once this new stem cell research is complete we will finally see what can really be done with this technology.

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Hi, I like your post. I was searching for the same. You have included everything in your blog but you can improve it a little bit.
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The best thing about this is it was done through adult stem cells not embryonic. Scientists are smart :)I hope they will mage them in green contact lenses.

This is a huge development. Stem cells seems like their going to be the miracle cure all for our generation. I'm happy to know that science is making such huge strides with stem cells.

so cute :-) Even i have a case but not so cute.This pink box is amazing and attracts everyone's attention.And the cost is also too less. I want to buy one.Can any one help with this...pls
www.contactlensesmall.com

It's pretty hard to not be impressed by stem cells. I read an article about stem cells making new video games at http://gamefriends.com

Amazing! Why is this not front page news? For the life of me, I do not understand. Where there is applaud due and recognition where so many people may benefit and it is not worthy of such attention. Oh no we will discuss the affairs of a President and the life of some celebrity. Well this is news!

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If this is a relatively low cost prodedure, surely if it works it will cost much less in the long run to help those with corneal damage, than to provide care. The fact that stem cells can help in so many fields such as Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s Disease, Heart Diseases, Spinal Cord Injuries, Diabetes, and the treatment of cancer is such an exciting area of development.
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This is indeed really great news. I hope this could be perfected anytime soon. I want to get this procedure to my mother who has been suffering, this could really help her a lot.

Bradford Fleming
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This sounds really good to me. this will be very helpful to me and my sister. hope i can get one of that soon.

Wow this is a great news for the people who suffers eye problem. i hope they can afford this kind of treatment.

That is amazing-and what a gift to those who had corneal damage! hopefully this would be widely available soon. Nevertheless I don't think they'll be able to cure near/far-sightedness with stem-cell contacts. Those are specifically for repairing damage. Near/far-sightedness is a result of the shape of the eye and the positioning of the cornea. Nearsightedness (Myopia) is a result of the eye being too long or the cornea being too steep resulting in the image being focused on the inside of the eye rather than the retina.