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Stem cell research – timeline

The last 10 years have seen a huge increase in research into stem cells, but when did it all begin?

1956

First successful bone marrow transplant between a related donor and recipient is performed by Dr E Thomas in New York. The patient, who has leukaemia, is given radiotherapy and then treated with healthy bone marrow from an identical twin.

Black and white photo of Dr E Donnall Thomas in a research lab.

Dr E Donnall Thomas

Dr E Donnall Thomas performed the first successful bone marrow transplant between a related donor and recipient. He is pictured here, in a research lab, early in his career.

Rights: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

1960

Researchers discover bone marrow contains at least two kinds of stem cells – blood or haematopoietic stem cells that form all the types of blood cells in the body and stromal stem cells that form bone, cartilage, fat, and connective tissue.

1960

First research report to indicate that the brain may generate new nerve cells is published, but not widely accepted.

For further information, see article: Stem cell therapy – a bird-brain idea?

1968

British scientist Robert Edwards and his student, Barry Bavister, became the first to fertilise a human egg in the test tube. This is the beginning of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) technologies.

1968

First bone marrow transplant for non-cancer treatment. Dr Robert Good uses a bone marrow transplant to treat an eight year old boy with severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome (SCID). The donor is an HLA-matched sister.

1973

First bone marrow transplant between unrelated patients. A five year old patient in New York with SCID is treated with multiple infusions of bone marrow from a donor in Denmark.

1978

The first IVF baby is born in England.

1978

Blood stem cells are discovered in human umbilical cord blood.

1981

Mouse embryonic stem cells are derived for the first time from the inner cell mass of a mouse blastocyst and grown in vitro.

1984 – 1998

Pluripotent stem cells are isolated. When exposed to retinoic acid, these cells differentiate into neuron-like cells and other cell types.

Embryonic stem cells inforgraphic

Embryonic stem cells

Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent. An embryo begins as a single, fertilised egg that divides to form a blastocyst. The blastocyst is made up of embryonic stem cells, which can differentiate into all cells, such as brain, heart, liver and lung cells.

Rights: The University of Waikato Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato

1989

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is developed – a method where a single stem cell can be removed from an IVF embryo and tested for inherited diseases.

1990

Bone marrow donor programme initiated.

1990

Dr Thomas receives the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his pioneering work on bone marrow transplants.

1995

Scientists at the University of Wisconsin derive the first embryonic stem cells from non-human primates.

1998

Scientists at the University of Wisconsin, led by James Thompson, isolate and grow the first stem cells from human embryos. The embryos used in these studies were created by IVF.

Diagram illustrating uses of stem cells to treat diseases.

Stem cells from IVF

Embryonic stem cells can be collected from unused fertilised eggs from in vitro fertilisation (IVF). The stem cells could be used to treat human disease and repair tissue. The use of stem cells from IVF fertilised eggs presents ethical issues as the harvesting of the stem cells means the embryo will never grow into an adult.

Rights: designua, 123RF Ltd

1999

Researchers discover that stem cells can be made to differentiate into different cell types.

2001

President George W Bush permits federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, but only on the 64 existing stem cell lines.

2004

Researchers in South Korea claim to be the first to clone a human embryo and then harvest the stem cells for research. The research is later found to have been fabricated.

2004

California becomes the first state in the USA to provide its own fund for embryonic stem cell research.

2005

George W Bush’s restrictions on embryonic stem cell research are loosened.

2009

President Barack Obama reverses George W Bush's executive order and issues a replacement order removing barriers for research.

2010

The US FDA gives approval to test human embryonic stem cell treatments for degenerative eye disease.

2013

The world's first stem cell burger, grown from cow muscle cells, is cooked and eaten. The 142 g patty took 3 months to create.

2014

US and Japanese researchers discover that "any cell can be potentially rewound to a pre-embryonic state" using a short, simple technique.

2015

The cost of a lab-grown burger drops from USD$325,000 per patty to a more reasonable USD$11.36.

2015

Japanese scientists grow and transplant a functioning kidney into a living organism.

2016

Lab-grown mouse eggs result in 11 apparently healthy live births. The research began with more than 300 embryos.

Published:16 November 2007