My post in August last year  was about the first public presentation on stem cell therapy in dolphins as given by Dr. Shawn Johnson at the International Association of Aquatic Animal Medicine in Las Vegas. The project is a funded three-year collaboration between the Office of Naval Research and Vet-Stem, Inc. to assess the regenerative capacity in bottlenose dolphins.  The research project is based on over 8 years of clinical research at Vet-Stem and the practical treatment of over 4,000 dogs and 4,000 horses with adipose-derived stem cells.   The published data on stem cell therapy of arthritis in dogs (http://www.vet-stem.com/pdfs/Double_Blinded_Canine_Study.pdf ) was one of the key reasons the Navy contacted Vet-Stem.  Dr. Johnson and I both presented this year on the success in healing skin wounds.  Preliminary findings showed that stem cells improved healing in the treated wounds compared to those not treated. Now the Navy may be able to treat any wounds in Dolphins and reduce scars and improve the time it takes to heal.  Future studies may evaluate the technique in treating eye, kidney, and liver disease as well as in therapy for hearing loss in the dolphin.  And yes, it is incredibly cool to go work with these amazing creatures!  Many great articles have been written about this groundbreaking study, one of the best is at http://cen.acs.org/articles/90/i19/Marine-Mammal-Health.html