Stem cell research will impact medicine by providing cures for previously untreatable diseases, neurology professor John Kessler told about 80 students in Pancoe Auditorium Wednesday night.

“It’s quite breathtaking when you think about all the ways in which stem cells can affect medicine,” Kessler said. “All those horrible diseases that we can’t treat right now will be able to be treated in the future.”

Kessler is chairman of the Department of Neurology at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine and adviser to a campaign seeking to pass a state proposal that would implement a 6 percent tax on elective cosmetic surgery to benefit stem cell research.

His speech, entitled “The Debate on Stem Cell Research,” was sponsored by the Undergraduate Pre-Medical Society, College Democrats and NU’s Stem Cell Research Interest Group.

Vijaya Rao, a Weinberg senior and founder of Student Society for Stem Cell Research, said the group brought Kessler to speak because “he is one of the country’s most renowned advocates of stem cell research.”

In his speech, Kessler explained the ways stem cell research could help cure spinal cord injuries and treat the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

He also gave a brief explanation of the origins and different types of stem cells, including the differences between those found in embryos and those found in other human organs.

“What’s great about stem cells is that they are basically immortal and can help regenerate organ tissue,” he said. “These cells are found in every one of our organs, but the most potent ones are found in embryos.”

Kessler refuted many of the popular objections about using stem cells in human beings, stating that he and his fellow researchers were not interested in cloning human beings.

“There is a general fear among the population of manipulating biology,” Kessler said. “People are generally afraid of human cloning, but we don’t want to clone human beings.”

He also said that although 18 stem cell lines currently exist in the United States, researchers are unable to use them because their “shelf-life” is limited.

“We need to to be able to use and derive embryonic stem cell lines,” he said.

Although Kessler said he has high hopes for the future of stem cell biology, he admits that research of the subject is still limited.

Kessler explained the implications of such research well, one listener said.

“(I learned that) most of the controversy surrounding stem cell research is unfounded, due most significantly to the inability of the general population to understand it,” said Ann Gage, a Weinberg senior. “I’m amazed at how quickly this research is going to revolutionize the medical field.”

Reach Allan Madrid at [email protected].