|
October 15, 2004/Tishri 30 5765, Vol. 57, No. 7
Reeve found Israel 'super'JTA STAFFNEW YORK- Christopher Reeve, the paralyzed actor who was an inspiration to so many, himself drew inspiration from a trip he took to Israel in 2003.Reeve, who made his name playing "Superman," died Oct. 10 at 52. The cause of death was heart failure stemming from an infection. Reeve surprised even his doctors when he was able to move an index finger years after the 1995 horse-riding accident that crippled him. He visited research institutions and rehabilitation centers in Israel. He was particularly interested in the work of neurobiologist Michal Schwartz, of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, and scientists from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He also met with scientists from Hebrew University, where researchers are working on creating purified lines of human embryonic stem cells. Scientists there already have demonstrated the ability of stem cells to become new heart tissue, he said, and are doing cutting-edge work in computational neuroscience, the study of how the brain and nervous system work. "That technology is moving along very rapidly in Israel," Reeve told JTA. "The United States is giving away its pre-eminence in biomedical research because of pressure from social and religious conservatives, and it's particularly disturbing because polls show that 70 percent of the American public is in favor of all forms of stem-cell research." President Bush has allowed federal funds for research using existing embryonic stem-cell lines from 2001, but few of those lines are still viable today. His Democratic challenger in next month's presidential election, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), favors expanding federal funding for stem-cell research. |
