Public Expectations and Reality of Stem Cell Therapies Translation

Needless to say how much stem cell topic is overhyped today. Just turn on TV or radio and look at local newspaper or Internet – stem cells are everywhere! The public opinion and perception of stem cell research and therapy is based almost entirely on media reporting. But how close/ far this perception from the reality? Many professionals can speculate that this gap is big. But do we have a data? Tania Bubela just published a study, which indicates that public belief and optimism for stem cell research and translation is largely unjustified and even delusional. This study is very unique and important! We as a field can learn a lot from it!

Our goal is to uncover the nature of the biases in the public discourse on stem cell research that separates fact from fiction. This is the first step to creating better communication strategies among the clinical research community and the public, patients, and policy makers.

They measured public expectation by media coverage and compare it with clinical trials data. Media coverage data were retrieved...