Earlier this month, the
McEwan Centre for Regenerative Medicine in Toronto launched an innovative new approach to raising awareness of the need for stem cell research and to generate support for regenerative medicine: a website called
joinstemcellcity.com.
The website will use social media tools--updates on new discoveries and devlopments in research, a "join the community" approach to recruiting and educating supporters, and functions that allow people to direct their support to specific areas of research--to create public support for the field. Cheryl McEwan, a founder of the McEwan Centre for Regenerative Medicine,
said in a statement announcing the project that it would allow users to "Stand up and be counted as an informed Canadian who believes that stem cell research will help us achieve a future free of many of the diseases that continue to devastate us all."
Organizers
told reporters that they had noted that public support is a key element in attracting both private donations and public grants, and said the site will serve the purpose of both raising awareness that supports research in general and in generating private donations.
Writer: Edward Keenan
Sources: Stacy O'Rourke, for the McEwan Centre; The Globe and Mail