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From my email to the NIH regarding dry eyes...the lady who responded was very sincere. I even said I wanted to start doing research myself. check it out!
"Thank you for contacting the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Currently, research is being conducted using stem cells in different areas of health and medical research, but it is premature to predict if advances in embryonic or adult stem cell research will lead to regeneration or repairing of organs and tissues in the body. Many basic research studies need to be conducted before scientists use human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines for clinical trials. Thus, there have been no human trials conducted so far using hESC cells. Please note that research on human adult stem cells has shown remarkable progress in helping to treat certain diseases. Adult stem cells, like those found in bone marrow, have been studied for decades and this research has resulted in treatments for blood cancers and certain disorders of the blood. Adult stem cells are now being used in neurological and eye studies. For instance, limbal stem cells of the cornea are being used clinically to treat corneal diseases.
I would like to direct you to the website of the National Eye Institute (NEI) at http://www.nei.nih.gov <http://www.nei.nih.gov/> . The NEI is the lead institute at the NIH that conducts research on eye disease. If you have not visited it before, I am sure that you will find it a good resource for information on new advances, discoveries, and recovery from eye disease, such as http://www.nei.nih.gov/health/dryeye/dryeye.asp or http://www.medhelp.org/NIH/NEI/NEI-6.htm.
In addition, an excellent source of information can be found at the NIH/National Library of Medicine's consumer health database called Medline Plus at http://medlineplus.gov/ <http://medlineplus.gov/> . In the Search box at the top of the page, you can enter the words "eye disease” or “stem cells" and retrieve multiple links to stem cell research information inside and outside the Federal government.
I believe the best way to get a good education in a particular research area, including stem cell research, is to identify someone whose work interests you and then contact that person to talk about working in their laboratory or talking to them about your career path. If you use this method to find a potential mentor in the field, you can then work toward gaining your goal. Many researchers have laboratory websites, so you may even be able to find and speak to other students in the laboratory to find out what it's like to work for a particular person.
The NIH stem cell website lists several stem cell-related research programs on its website at http://stemcells.nih.gov/research/educResearch.asp. These websites are a good place for you to begin exploring stem cell research programs and to become familiar with the Principal Investigators (PIs) working on interesting stem cell research projects.
Another way to identify potential stem cell labs of interest to you would be to search through published scientific literature at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?DB=pubmed. If, for example, you are interested in stem cells and diabetes, you could search for articles on this topic and see who is publishing research on that topic.
I hope this information helps you in your interest in stem cell research. Good luck to you!"
"Thank you for contacting the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Currently, research is being conducted using stem cells in different areas of health and medical research, but it is premature to predict if advances in embryonic or adult stem cell research will lead to regeneration or repairing of organs and tissues in the body. Many basic research studies need to be conducted before scientists use human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines for clinical trials. Thus, there have been no human trials conducted so far using hESC cells. Please note that research on human adult stem cells has shown remarkable progress in helping to treat certain diseases. Adult stem cells, like those found in bone marrow, have been studied for decades and this research has resulted in treatments for blood cancers and certain disorders of the blood. Adult stem cells are now being used in neurological and eye studies. For instance, limbal stem cells of the cornea are being used clinically to treat corneal diseases.
I would like to direct you to the website of the National Eye Institute (NEI) at http://www.nei.nih.gov <http://www.nei.nih.gov/> . The NEI is the lead institute at the NIH that conducts research on eye disease. If you have not visited it before, I am sure that you will find it a good resource for information on new advances, discoveries, and recovery from eye disease, such as http://www.nei.nih.gov/health/dryeye/dryeye.asp or http://www.medhelp.org/NIH/NEI/NEI-6.htm.
In addition, an excellent source of information can be found at the NIH/National Library of Medicine's consumer health database called Medline Plus at http://medlineplus.gov/ <http://medlineplus.gov/> . In the Search box at the top of the page, you can enter the words "eye disease” or “stem cells" and retrieve multiple links to stem cell research information inside and outside the Federal government.
I believe the best way to get a good education in a particular research area, including stem cell research, is to identify someone whose work interests you and then contact that person to talk about working in their laboratory or talking to them about your career path. If you use this method to find a potential mentor in the field, you can then work toward gaining your goal. Many researchers have laboratory websites, so you may even be able to find and speak to other students in the laboratory to find out what it's like to work for a particular person.
The NIH stem cell website lists several stem cell-related research programs on its website at http://stemcells.nih.gov/research/educResearch.asp. These websites are a good place for you to begin exploring stem cell research programs and to become familiar with the Principal Investigators (PIs) working on interesting stem cell research projects.
Another way to identify potential stem cell labs of interest to you would be to search through published scientific literature at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?DB=pubmed. If, for example, you are interested in stem cells and diabetes, you could search for articles on this topic and see who is publishing research on that topic.
I hope this information helps you in your interest in stem cell research. Good luck to you!"