5th Science for Society - And may you stay forever young

A conversation on regenerative medicine with Giulio Cossu and Anna Randi, on the book La trama della vita.

Abstract

Living forever is a ubiquitous dream, present in many novels, paintings and musical pieces. Who knows whether this dream may one day come true? Regenerative medicine, the topic of the book to be discussed, promises not only to cure terrible and so far incurable diseases, but also to repair or replace our cells and tissues so that, in theory, we may live “forever young and healthy”. Do we really want this? Although there have been a few spectacular successes, there have been many more failures. Nevertheless, the expectations raised in patients have been exploited by commercially driven “stem cell clinics” that offer to cure any disease with stem cells in exchange for money. These and other topics, such as the impact of such technology on society and health economics, will be discussed by Giulio Cossu, the author of La trama della vita, with his colleague from Imperial College, Anna Randi.