Good morning. Thank you very much for your invitation to testify today.
I'm speaking to you as a Canada research chair, a senior scientist and director of the regenerative medicine program at the Ottawa Hospital, and also as scientific director of the Canadian Stem Cell Network. The Stem Cell Network is funded through the national centres of excellence.
First of all, why is stem cell research important? Stem cell research, first, is an area of true strategic strength scientifically in Canada; and secondly, stem cell research is paving the road for regenerative medicine to enter the clinic. Regenerative medicine is going to transform medical practice by alleviating, or possibly curing, many of the devastating diseases that plague mankind, including cancer, type 1 diabetes, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, heart disease, strokes, spinal cord injury, and so on. Regenerative medicine will not only transform clinical practice, but it will change the paradigm of health care and the pharmaceutical industry in a very profound way.
These are truly exciting times in stem cell research. It's been over seven years since I last presented to this committee, and in that time a lot has happened.
In the next few minutes I'm going to touch on three different areas where advances have occurred: a new source of stem cells, new ways in which stem cells are being applied in the lab, and some recent examples of clinical trials.
You'll remember that the last time stem cells were debated in the House—not just here but around the world—much attention was paid to the relative merits of adult versus embryonic stem cells. Embryonic stem cells are derived from four-day-old to five-day-old embryos. These embryos have been created for the purpose of in vitro fertilization and they would otherwise be discarded.