Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, we are pleased to
appear before you to discuss the promise of human pluripotent
stem cell research. Recent published reports on the isolation
and successful culturing of the first human pluripotent stem
cell lines have generated great excitement among scientists,
patients and their families. Research using human pluripotent
stem cells holds enormous promise for advances in the
prevention, treatment, and diagnosis of a vast array of
diseases. Virtually every realm of medicine might be touched by
this innovation. Because of this enormous promise, NIH believes
that this research must proceed, as long as it is conducted
ethically and legally. What are stem cells? Stem cells are self-
renewing and can give rise to the more specialized cells of the
human body, such as muscle cells, blood cells and brain cells.
They are best described in the context of normal human
development. When a sperm fertilizes an egg, the product is a
single cell that has the potential to form an