Little Layla Richards, who just weeks ago seemed certain to die soon, nows appears to be a normal healthy one-year-old child. (From BBC video)
Why study science? Perhaps someday you'll be able to design treatments that can rid the world of dreaded diseases like cancer. Here's an example.
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"Miracle" treatment saves baby cancer victim
Scientists in Britain have designed cancer-fighting cells that appeared to have cured a dying one-year-old girl.
Layla Richards, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukaemia when she was only 14 months old. All treatments, including a bone marrow transplant, failed and doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital feared the worst.
Her parents were told that Layla's time was short and they should "make memories" while they could.
Her parents refused to give up, however, and doctors, with the parents permission, decided on an experimental treatment that had worked with mice, but never had been tried with humans.
White blood cells, T cells, were taken from a healthy donor and modified so that they could seek out and kill drug-resistant leukaemia.
After the treatment, Layla began to improve almost immediately. A few weeks later, doctors told her parents that the treatment had worked.
They stress that it might not work for everyone and it is not a proven cure for leukaemia, but they are very excited for Layla and the future of "designer cell" treatments.
Adapted from AFP and BBC sources
Future scientists: You can get a good idea of how the "designer" treatment worked from the video and this story: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/how-miracle-leukaemia-cure-works-6776752