What:
The new documentary Mapping Stem Cell Research: Terra Incognita, which will have its premiere on the PBS television series Independent Lens on Jan. 15, 2008, will be shown in a public screening at WPI hosted by the WPI Bioengineering Institute. The screening, which is free and open to the public, will be followed by a panel discussion by scholars and researchers from WPI and other institutions of the Colleges of Worcester Consortium.
When:
Friday, January 11, 2008, 5:30 p.m.
Where:
Campus Center, Odeum
Campus of Worcester Polytechnic Institute
100 Institute Road
Worcester, Mass.
About the Film:
Directed by Maria Finitzo, Mapping Stem Cell Research puts a human face on a controversial subject, according to its producers. “When neurologist Dr. Jack Kessler’s daughter injured her spine in a skiing accident, he turned his energies toward finding a method to repair damaged spinal cords, re-focusing his research on developing a therapy using embryonic stem cells to regenerate the damaged parts of the nervous system. His research has taken him into a politically very sensitive area in which Catholic and fundamentalist Christian views about the beginning of life exert a powerful influence.
“Through the personal experiences of the Kesslers, lab researchers and others affected by spinal cord injury, Mapping Stem Cell Research follows the evolving interplay between the promise of new discoveries and the controversy of modern science.”
For more information and to register, visit the WPI Bioengineering Institute news page.
Media interested in covering the screening:
Please contact Mike Dorsey at 508-831-5609 or mwdorsey@wpi.edu; or Eileen Brangan Mell at 508-831-6789 or ebmell@wpi.edu
