Although there is a long way to go before the promises of stem cell research is realized, the field is evolving at a rapid pace and clinical proof-of-concept applications are on the table. Stem cell use is being tested in such diverse areas as vision loss, vascular regeneration, and graft versus host disease, all of which will be discussed at Cambridge Healthtech's 'Stem Cells Congress' in March, 2008. Basic research on tissue repair underlies most of the applicable research that will be presented, such as using stem cells to improve such eye conditions as age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. A team from the Scripps Research Institute is using cord blood-derived hematopoietic stem cells, which have inherent trophic activity, to prevent the abnormal growth of blood vessels in the eye. They are also investigating the use of the cells to treat a variety of neurodegenerative diseases. A team at Geron is generating large amounts of human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-derived cardiomyocytes to use in heart transplantations as well as in vitro and therapeutic applications. The ultimate goal is to use the cardiomyocytes to stop and reverse heart damage. Athersys is working on using bone marrow-derived stem cells to treat graft versus host disease and hopes to use the pluripotent stem cells as a universal cell product to treat acute injury or inflammation, while Aviva Systems Biology (aka Aviva Antibody Corp.) is studying stem cells using chromatin immunoprecipitation DNA selection and ligation (ChIP-DSL).