Beach girl
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Hair cells work differently, plus it's difficult to figure out where exactly to inject the cells. With eyes, I guess the cells automatically migrate to where they are supposed to be. With ears, it's different.
One problem with ears is that each individual hair cell responds to a different tone, as I understand it. So they are like "piano keys," in that the function is the same (react to sound) but the exact job for each cell is different (react to different tones). So it's more difficult to get stem cells to do that.
There was a very interesting talk on stem-cell and genetic therapy research at the HLAA convention two weeks ago. The guy giving the talk apparently is in the front-lines of the research. It was fascinating what they are doing.
But, bottom line: he said "If anyone is putting off getting a CI in the hope that stem cell research will soon be ready to go - don't do that. It's going to be a long while yet."
One problem with ears is that each individual hair cell responds to a different tone, as I understand it. So they are like "piano keys," in that the function is the same (react to sound) but the exact job for each cell is different (react to different tones). So it's more difficult to get stem cells to do that.
There was a very interesting talk on stem-cell and genetic therapy research at the HLAA convention two weeks ago. The guy giving the talk apparently is in the front-lines of the research. It was fascinating what they are doing.
But, bottom line: he said "If anyone is putting off getting a CI in the hope that stem cell research will soon be ready to go - don't do that. It's going to be a long while yet."