beproject Channel

In 1981 both Gail Martin at the University of California, San Francisco and Martin Evans at the University of Cambridge isolated embryonic stem cells in mice.

In November of 1995, the first embryonic stem cells in rhesus macaque monkeys were isolated at the University of Wisconsin. This research demonstrated the possibility of deriving embryonic stem cells from primates, including humans.

On November 5, 1998 researchers at the University of Wisconsin and John Hopkins University reported isolating human embryonic stem cells.

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin isolated four embryonic stem cell lines from the Syrian "golden" hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) in May of 1988.

In 1961, Canadians Jim Till and Ernest McCulloch proved the existence of stem cells.

Hematopoietic stem cells were first discovered in human blood cord in the United States in 1978.

In 1992, Canadian Sam Weiss identifies stem cells in the adult human brain. In 1994, patients with damaged corneas are successfully treated with corneal stem cells in Taiwan. Then in 1999, Canadian researchers collaborate with Italian researchers to derive, for the first time, blood cells from adult neural stem cells followed by the identification of retinal stem cells in the human eye in 2000 by Derek van der Kooy.

On September 3, 2001 researchers at the University of Wisconsin reported that undifferentiated human embryonic stem cells can be teased down a developmental pathway to become blood cells.

In the first year of his presidency in 2001, George Bush addressed the stem cell debate by granting no funding for research on new stem cell lines, essentially putting embryonic stem cell research to a halt. In the fifth year of his presidency when Congress's bid to lift funding restrictions on human embryonic stem cell research, Bush vetoed the Stem Cell Bill.

President Barack Obama said on March 9, 2009, his 48th day of presidency, he is allowing federal taxpayer dollars to fund significantly broader research on embryonic stem cells because "medical miracles do not happen simply by accident," and promised his administration would make up for the ground lost under his predecessor.