Hans Keirstead

Hans Keirstead

As a Ph.D. student at the University of British Columbia, Hans Keirstead invented a method for regenerating damaged spinal cords using embryonic human stem cells. His work holds promise, not only for the treatment of spinal cord injury, but for multiple sclerosis and stroke. When the federal government denied funding to create new lines of embryonic stem cells for research, Hans Keirstead helped secure passage of California’s Proposition 71, committing the State of California to the funding of stem cell research. If paralyzed people ever walk again, it may well be due to the efforts of this brilliant young scientist. Today, he is Assistant Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology at the University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine, where he is also Co-Director of the Sue and Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center. In this video podcast, recorded at the 2006 International Achievement Summit in Los Angeles, California, he discusses his work researching spinal cord injuries. He tells the Academy's student delegates how he founded a biotechnology company to develop technology that applies discarded and donated human embryonic stem cell tissues to improve damaged spinal cords and the central nervous system.