Sickle Cell Clinical Trials

I got this from Our Voice, a new sickle cell blog that just launched in the blogosphere. Go over there and say hi!

According to the Washington Post, May 29,2008, Johns Hopkins Institute
researchers developed a human stem cell line containing the mutation associated
with sickle cell anemia.

They say, "One challenge to studying blood diseases like sickle cell anemia
is that blood stem cells can't be kept alive for very long in the lab, so
researchers need to keep returning to patients for more cells to study."

Linzhao Cheng, an associate professor of gynecology and obstetrics,
medicine and oncology, and a member of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Cell
Engineering said, "Having these new cell lines available might enable some
bigger projects, like screening for potential drugs."

Would you get involved in clinical trials if you thought it would help find
a cure?Check out the link http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/. There
might be something you could do to help researchers find a cure.

Personally, I would love to donate my stem cells to research, as beautiful as they are. As long as it wasn't too painful for them to collect they could get as many as they wanted. From what I know, gathering stem cells can be tricky business, but I wish the good people at John's Hopkins good luck with that. Hopefully they will be able to hurry up and find this friggin' cure already!