The evolving face of medicine

Lab created T-cells could promise revolutionary ways of combatting cancer, AIDS, and even the common cold.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&a mp;cid=1079910611380&call_pageid=968350130169&col=969483202845

In the first stages there is still the potential for failure. Nonetheless, it is exciting.

they managed to grow functioning T-cells, the foot soldiers of the body's immune system that fend off bacteria and viral infections that can prove fatal if left unchecked.

The discovery is staggering.

It could change the way AIDS patients live, the way cancer patients recover from chemotherapy, replace antibiotics, end painful and sometimes futile bone marrow transplants, even transform the way we fight the common cold.

But that's only if, like the lottery ticket holder waiting for the last ball to roll out of the machine, the discovery goes the distance from Petri dish to mouse model to human trials.

...That opens the door for myriad medical possibilities, although Zuñiga-Pflücker is careful to point out that new therapies or treatments could be decades away, and may not prove superior to current technologies.

I normally shy away from tinkering with natural biology advances, but this is different. AIDS has changed the landscape of many social situations. It's devastating to watch people you love die horribly or live in fear. Same with cancer. For this round...Tinker faster please!