James Till

James Till (http://medbio.utoronto.ca/faculty/till.html (http://medbio.utoronto.ca/faculty/till.html))

James Till is one of the men credited with the discovery of stem cells and in 1961, published a paper about his discovery along with Dr. Ernest McCulloch.

Born on August 25 1931, in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, James Till is a biophysicist at the University of Toronto. He attended the University of Saskatchewan and received his PhD at Yale University. He worked at the Ontario Cancer Institute at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, which is where he began to work with Dr. McCulloch. Dr. McCulloch was a physician who wanted to test the reaction of irradiated mice to bone marrow transplants. Dr. Till volunteered to work with Dr. McCulloch on this experiment. They tested on mice, giving them lethal doses of radiation, and during the experiment, discovered the formation of new cells caused by the marrow transplanted in the mice.

They turned their attention to studying the cause of these cell formations and over the decade, brought new understanding of stem cells. In 2005, both men were awarded the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research. Ernest McCulloch then passed away in 2011.

This discovery could revolutionize medical treatment. Stem cells are a type of cell that is not specialized, and does not perform a specific task. They can reproduce asexually to create specialized cells. This could mean that destroyed human tissue could be recreated. Disabilities, diseases, or conditions like cancers, baldness, or paralysis could potentially have a cure in these types of cells.