https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/healthreport/gene-therapy-rare-diseases/101405506

Robert Lamberth was born with a genetic disorder that meant his blood didn’t clot properly. 

Throughout his life, he received regular transfusions of the clotting factor his body was unable to produce in adequate amounts. 

But about three years ago he received a single injection that changed everything. 

Today was the launch of a new book by Prof. John Rasko and Dr. Carl Power: “Flesh Made New: The Unnatural History and Broken Promise of Stem Cells”.   For decades, we’ve been anticipating the dawn of regenerative medicine. Again and again, we’ve been promised that stem cells will soon cure just about every ill imaginable. If not tomorrow, then the next day, or the day after that, and so on. We’re still waiting. This book is an antidote to hype and a salve to sooth the itch for stem-cell salvation. In it, Professor John Rasko, a leading physician-scientist, and writer-historian Carl Power take us on a wild historical tour of this scandal-prone field. They expose all the dirty little secrets that the hype merchants prefer to ignore – the blunders and setbacks, confusions and delusions, tricks and lies. Is there any good news? Which of the many promises of stem-cell research have been kept? And what of the future? Rasko and Power insist that we can only know where we’re going if we have a sense of where we’ve been. Their study tears down the hype surrounding stem cells in order to reveal what’s still worth hoping for.

On 30th April, 2021, Prof Rasko gave this keynote address as part of the Integrity 20’21 program series, presented by Griffith University. Watch the recording, as he explores the promises and pitfalls of stem cell science. Read more about this in the book ‘Flesh Made New’