Product Details

• Format: NTSC
• Region: All Regions
• Studio: Charlie Rose, Inc.
• DVD Release Date: May 20, 2007
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: B000Q36ED8
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #341,407 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

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5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent tool for education of the layman in stem- cell research, October 23, 2007

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Charlie Rose - The Charlie Rose Science Series: Stem Cell Research (May 16, 2007) (DVD)

A major aim of this program, and the whole Charlie Rose Science series is to educate the general public in critical issues in 'Science'. The bringing together of articulate experts in a panel with Rose, and his co- host in these discussions, Rockefeller University President Paul Nurse is an excellent format for doing this.
Here is the general description of the program provided as advertisment for the DVD.
"The panel discusses existing successes in the use of stem cells, such as bone marrow transplants, and the hopes for future applications of both adult and embryonic stem cells, both as a way to model and study disease and a possible treatment for a variety of conditions, such as heart and blood disease, diabetes , Parkinson's, Lou Gehrig's disease, Alzheimer's, spinal cord injuries, and cancer. The uses of federal and private funding for the research are also considered. These issues are discussed by Sir Paul Nurse, president of The Rockefeller University, Doug Melton, Co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, George Daley of Children's Hospital Boston and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Larry Goldstein, director of the UC San Diego Stem Cell program, and Story Landis of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke."
The panel is not utopian but makes clear the many obstacles and difficulties involved in the research. Nonetheless there is a tone of optimism, and an urgent sense of the need to push ahead with the research, and not be obstructed by Government reservations.
I would just add a few of the insights that I , a complete layman in the area, learned from the presentation.
1) There are organs which require embryonic stem cells for regeneration of cells. For instance adult pancreatic stem cells cannot be regenerated.
2) There is a strain of Alzheimer's which has to do with one problematic gene only. But in general Alzheimer comes from multiple disturbances of the genetic network.
3) While major repairitive organ procedures are down the road through stem cell research, stem cell research already now has increased greatly the knowledge of how cells function. i.e. it has already proven greatly valuable.