Dreams and Due Diligence: Till & McCulloch's Stem Cell Discovery and Legacy

Dreams and Due Diligence: Till & McCulloch's Stem Cell Discovery and Legacy

Weight 0.00 lbs
By Joe Sornberger
University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division © 2011
World Rights
184 Pages 17 Images
Cloth
ISBN 9781442644854
Published Oct 2011
$29.95
Description
Author
Contents
Reviews

In proving the existence of stem cells, Ernest Armstrong McCulloch and James Edgar Till formed the most important partnership in Canadian medical research since Frederick Banting and Charles Best, the discoverers of insulin. Together, Till and McCulloch instructed, influenced, and inspired successive generations of researchers who have used their findings to make huge advances against disease. Thousands of people who would have died from leukemia and immunological disorders now owe their lives to therapies developed from their discoveries.

Despite their accomplishments, Till and McCulloch remain largely unknown, and until now, their story has remained untold. Dreams and Due Diligence vividly chronicles the work of two researchers who made medical history – two men who possessed exactly the right complementary talents to achieve greatness and win nearly every award available in medical research. Bringing their legacy to life for the first time, Joe Sornberger provides a dramatic account of the development of stem cell research, one of today's most ground-breaking medical scientific fields.

Joe Sornberger is a writer and editor based in Ottawa. His writing has appeared in many publications including the National Post, the Vancouver Sun, and the Ottawa Citizen.

 

Contents

Introduction

Part I: Discovery
1. On a Sunday in 1960
2. After the A-Bomb, before the Beatles
3. The Impossible partnership

Part II: Development
4. A bunch of kids having a good time
5. The progeny

Part III: Today and Tomorrow
6. Ethics, hope and hype
7. The evil twin: the cancer stem cell
8. The beneficiary
9. The future
10. Little fame, no Nobel

Conclusion

‘The stem cell discoveries made by Till and McCulloch are milestone moments in medical research. That more Canadians don’t know about Jim and ‘Bun’ and celebrate their achievements remains a huge oversight. Theirs is an amazing story, and Joe Sornberger, who makes complicated science compellingly readable, tells it wonderfully well.’

Alain Beaudet, President of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research