Key Achievements in Stem Cell Research
| 1957 | Successful first attempt at intravenous infusion of bone marrow in patients receiving radiation and chemotherapy, Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital, Cooperstown, USA. |
| 1959 | Researchers at Jackson Laboratory, Maine, USA, identify a strain of mouse in which testicular teratomas occur with an appreciable frequency. |
| 1963 | The first quantitative descriptions of the self-renewing activities of transplanted mouse bone marrow cells, at University of Toronto, Canada. |
| 1974 | Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, USA, demonstrate that mouse EC cells can participate in the development of organisms as well as teratomas. |
| 1978 | First IVF baby born, following fertilisation of human eggs outside the body by scientists at Cambridge University, UK. |
| 1981 | Successful cultivation of mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells from explanted inner cell mass cells, at the University of California, USA, and Cambridge University, UK. |
| 1987 | Development of the technology needed for mutagenesis by gene targeting in mice using ES cells, at University of Utah and University of Cincinatti, USA. |
| 1992 | Development of methods for culturing embryonic germ (EG) cells developed at Vanderbilt University and National Cancer Institute, USA. |
| 1996 | A sheep is cloned through cell nuclear replacement techniques at the Roslin Institute, Edinburgh University, Scotland. |
| 1996 | Primate ES cell lines derived at the Wisconsin Primate Research Center, USA. |
| 1998 | First human ES cell lines are derived from human blastocysts at the Wisconsin Primate Research Center. |
| 1998 | Researchers at the John Hopkins University, USA, culture human EG cells taken from fetal tissue. |
| 1999 | Researchers at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, USA, remove 10 – 15 neural stem cells from a Parkinson’s disease patient and used them to reproduce 6 million dopaminergic neural stem cells. These were reintroduced into the patient’s brain tissue, producing a 62% increase in dopamine uptake and a 40–50% improvement in certain motor tasks. |
| 1999 | Researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine, USA, turn adult somatic stem cells derived from skeletal muscle into blood cells. |
| 1999 | Canadian researchers generate a variety of blood cell types, including myeloid, lymphoid and early hematopoietic, from adult somatic neural stem cells. |
| 2002 | Research at the University of Minnesota Medical School shows that adult somatic stem cells, previously thought to have very limited potential for specialisation, can differentiate into unrelated cell types, such as nerve and blood cells in some circumstances. |
| 2003 | Researchers at King’s College London generate the UK’s first human ES cell line. |
| 2003 | The International Stem Cell Forum (ISCF) is established to encourage international collaboration and funding support for stem cell research. |
| 2004 | The ISCF begins a review of ethics and regulation relating to stem cell research across the globe. |
| 2006 | On behalf of the ISCF, the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council begins a review of intellectual property rights related to stem cell research across the world, which will be key in encouraging further research and development worldwide. |
| 2006 | Led by the UK Medical Research Council, the International Stem Cell Forum (ISCF) sponsors an international project coordinated by Sheffield University to characterise 59 human embryonic stem cell lines. |
2006 Led by the UK Medical Research Council, the International Stem Cell Forum (ISCF) sponsors an international project coordinated by Sheffield University to characterise 59 human embryonic stem cell lines.
