https://madison.com/opinion/letters/don-t-hype-stem-cell-discoveries----eric/article_237bfa45-4c29-58a5-8af1-86553041309c.html

The State Journal recently published several articles and an editorial asserting that UW-Madison is the epicenter of the discovery of stem cells and their utility in medicine. This representation is far from the truth, and several laboratories worldwide have been active in stem-cell research for many years prior to UW-Madison’s culture of embryonic stem cells in 1998.

The prior pioneering advances in stem cells is illustrated by the granting of the Nobel Prize in 2012 to stem cell pioneers in the United Kingdom and Japan. Furthermore, the use of stem cells to cure disease has been extremely limited, and few therapies have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment of human disease. Several biotech companies have failed in clinical trials for stem-cell use for treatment of disease. Currently, the utility of stem cells is primarily relegated to screening of tissues for sensitivity to toxicants in the environment, and to laboratory studies of cellular processes using stem cell-derived tissues.