Hello everyone, last Friday we had a Skype chat with stem cell researcher Charis Walko. Here is a picture of what happened:

A Summary

We had a skype chat with Charis Walko, a stem cell researcher working with Stem Cell Technologies in Vancouver. Walko has a PhD in stem cell research from the University of Cambridge and before that got her masters in cell biology and genetics at UBC. She is originally from Germany. During our skype chat, we asked her questions about stem cell research and stem cells in general. I really enjoyed it and think that it is a unique opportunity to talk to someone who works with stem cells and get to know more about the subject. It was very interesting.

We asked the question “How do the people you work with feel about the stem cell controversy?”

What I learnt from the chat:

I learnt the answers to my question and the questions other people had.She answered my question “How do people you work with feel about the stem cell controversy?” She said “I myself think that the pluripotent stem cells are a great alternative so we don’tneed to have a controversy any more.”

Another thing I found interesting was a question about what diseases can be cured with stem cells. About 80 diseases can be cured with stem cells and most of them are associated with blood, because blood stem cells are oune of the easiest to put back.