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As the pace of translational stem cell research accelerates, researchers and governing bodies must work together to develop and implement rigorous ethical standards to guide the transition into the clinical sphere.
Substantial cuts in fiscal spending, triggered by the global economic crisis, highlight a pressing need to safeguard funding to ensure the future health of the scientific research enterprise.
Although the road to cell therapeutics is rife with uncertainties — scientific, clinical and economic — its success could transform medicine. Five years into its mission, the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine is laying a foundation for this new form of medical treatment.