Major medical breakthroughs emerge in 2024 with potential new treatments

In 2024, significant medical breakthroughs emerged, including a successful stem cell treatment that restored vision in patients with corneal epithelial stem cell deficiency. This method used reprogrammed stem cells from umbilical cord blood, showing lasting benefits after four to five years. Researchers also made strides in fertility treatments by creating a cellular atlas of human egg formation. This advancement could lead to artificial ovaries and new therapies for conditions like polycystic ovarian syndrome and endometriosis. Additionally, CAR T-cell therapy showed promise for treating glioblastoma, a severe brain cancer, while bridge RNAs were introduced as a new gene editing tool. A groundbreaking gene therapy allowed an 11-year-old boy to hear for the first time by correcting a defective gene responsible for hearing loss.