Founded in 1996 to conduct research that the NIH cannot fund because of the DickeyWicker amendment, Bedford Research scientists have achieved ground-breaking milestones:
- 1998 Special Program of Assisted Reproduction (SPAR) designed to protect wives and babies of HIV-infected men from infection during conception
- 2000 World’s first program of egg donation for stem cell research
- 2001 Report on artificially activated human eggs (parthenotes)
- 2002 First Activated Egg Symposium
- 2006 Research program with University of Athens to understand parthenogenesis
- 2008 First detection of prostate cancer genes in semen specimens for screening test
- 2009 Discovery that circadian rhythms may be necessary to human egg activation
- 2009 First Spinal Cord Workshop “What are the Barriers to Cure?”
- 2010 First International Meeting on Spinal Cord and Neurodegenerative Diseases in Taiwan
- 2012 First circadian microscope system to observe activated mouse egg development for five days.
- 2014 First observations of active circadian rhythm genes in early mouse embryos
- 2017 Discovery of method in a mouse model system to deriving “universal” stem cells
- 2017 Development of mouse “universal” stem cells that are also resistant to HIV infection
- 2018 Development of ethical guidelines for women to donate frozen eggs for research
- 2019 First Symposium on Circadian Rhythms and Development
- 2020 Development of PCR test to assist health care facilities with the COVID19 pandemic
- 2021 Development of unique transport medium for unfertilized human eggs for stem cell research
- 2022 Beginning of the unique “Ginterscope” design to study circadian rhythms in stem cells
Important note: This work cannot be federally funded because of the 1996 DickeyWicker Amendment to the National Institutes of Health budget. BRF scientists rely on private donations for research to develop “universal” stem cells for EveryBODY.
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