SCI Research Advancement is working with adult stem-cell treatments to cure spinal cord injuries.
SCI, which stands for “spinal cord injury,” was founded by Will Ambler after a motorcycle accident paralyzed him during his senior year of college. Although the campaign is designed to provide research grants, Ambler says it is done in a different way.
Will Ambler (SCI)”We combined not just a research contract, but combined it with a business contract so that researchers don’t just get subsidized money to do what they want whenever they want,” he explains. “They have to follow guidelines like everyone else. To get money, they have to do what we want with results that we want.”
Ambler does not fund research on human embryos because it involves the killing of children and also because that research has failed to produced useable results.
“The adult stem cell is much safer and as effective, so it doesn’t make any sense to really pursue anything with embryonic,” he decides.
So far, paralyzed lab animals have been treated with adult stem cells and were later able to walk again. The next step is to raise enough money, which comes strictly from donations, to use the new approach in humans. So far, adult stem cells have been used successfully in treating upwards of 80 diseases and medical conditions.
