Stem cell research took a few surprising twists during 2012, and California's $3 billion stem cell program completed its last building to support stem cell research.
Here are some of the highlights for this year.
-- People are composed of a genetic mosaic of cells, which slightly differ from each other.
-- The 12th and last stem cell facility funded by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, in Santa Barbara, has opened.
-- Geron's embryonic stem cell therapy for spinal cord damage, dropped in the middle of clinical trials, has been picked up by another biotech company, StemCells Inc.
You can find out much more about each finding from the three stem cell blogs I got them from. They are:
-- Knoepfler Lab Stem Cell Blog, run by prolific blogger and stem cell scientist Paul Knoepfler
-- California Stem Cell Report, by veteran journalist David Jensen
-- CIRM's official blog.
But if you would rather read the gist of these findings here, read on. Plus, you'll get a video of one of the top scientists in the field giving his vision of where stem cell science should go.
Read more:
The year (so far) in stem cells