Michigan Citizens for Stem Cell Research & Cures

Stem cell research has the potential to revolutionize medical treatment. Researchers see in stem cell research the possibility of diminishing, controlling or even curing life-destroying diseases and injuries that have, until now, eluded us.

As with many major medical discoveries that require a change in our thinking and challenge our comfort level, stem cell research is causing its share of controversy. But, in the future, stem cell research will likely take us to new levels of medical treatment and help us overcome medical challenges as never before.

Michigan Citizens for Stem Cell Research & Cures is a coalition of Michigan citizens and organizations dedicated to educating our state's residents about stem cell research and its potential for life-saving cures and treatments. As our name indicates, MCSCRC supports all forms of ethical stem cell research and is helping our state's citizens understand this science and its promise. However, as a 501(c) (3) nonprofit educational organization MCSCRC does not and cannot express support for any piece of legislation or political petition related to stem cell research.

Stem cells are the cells that develop into every tissue of our body and they maintain and repair those tissues throughout our lives.

Stem cells emerge at the earliest stage of our development – four to five days after the egg is fertilized by the sperm. At that point they are a microscopic cluster of about 150 cells that, as a group, are no larger than the period at the end of this sentence. Within that microscopic clump, called a blastocyst, is an even smaller cluster of 30 to 50 undifferentiated embryonic stem cells. It is those embryonic stem cells that eventually develop into every tissue in our body. Once they change or differentiate into a specific type of tissue, like heart tissue or nerve tissue or blood tissue, they become adult stem cells.

Scientists have conducted research on adult stem cells since the late 1960s. In the ensuing 50 years, nine or ten important treatments have emerged including life-saving bone marrow transplants. Adult stem cell research continues today.

Since embryonic stem cells were first isolated in 1998, they have opened an unprecedented portal for researchers, allowing them to track human development and the emergence of disease from its very earliest stages. This research will allow them to test drugs on human cells in the laboratory, resulting in better developed and less costly drugs that would be available more quickly. The ability to develop healthy human cells in the lab is the beginning of regenerative medicine – the ability to replace sick cells or tissues with healthy ones, rather than replacing entire organs.

Stem cell research is the door to the future of medicine and to new treatments and cures to health challenges including Parkinson’s, diabetes, ALS, spinal cord injury, macular degeneration arthritis, and more.