Thank you very much for that question.
Stem cells work in two ways, really. The goal of the research has resolved into two main avenues. The first is to actually understand human biology and through that to understand how the cells in our bodies act and how they become damaged or diseased. That understanding then allows researchers to develop therapies and create models to study diseases and understand the diseases better.
Then there's the other really exciting avenue, which is that you can use stem cells to develop treatments to regenerate tissues, organs, and cells in the body. You can grow the cells outside of the human body in labs and use them to regenerate organs or tissues or cells that have become diseased or damaged in our bodies. These two avenues really deal with basic biology. Developing treatments is what researchers are working on. The target for these two avenues is to address diseases that currently have no cure, diseases that we spend money on managing in the health care system and for which there is no cure, things like cancer, Parkinson's, MS, heart disease, things that cost the Canadian health care system billions of dollars. That's the hope.
Canada is well positioned to actually be a leader in this field. Stem cells were discovered in Canada. We have a very enviable research community in Canada, made up of the top experts in the world. The government has actually in fact been very supportive of the area, and our hope is that the government will continue to be supportive as we're moving now very steadily towards the clinics. The research is getting to the point now where we're beginning to see translation, and the hope is that the government will support that in this regard.