Stem Cell DilemmaEssay title: Stem Cell DilemmaStem Cell DilemmaThere are many controversies over whether stem cells should be studied, but before I discuss that topic lets discuss what a stem cell actually is. Stem cells are cells that can basically form into any type of cell, they are found in bone marrow, embryos, fetuses, and blood from the umbilical cord. Early in development, a human embryo is made up of a hollow ball of cells called a “blastocyst”. Blastocyst cells divide and eventually develop into all of the tissues and organs of a human being, a process called “differentiation”. Embryonic stem cells can be grown in the laboratory from blastocysts and made to differentiate into nerve, liver, muscle, blood, and other cells. Scientists hope to control the differentiation of the cells to replace cells in diseased organs in human beings. Embryonic stem cells can also be used to test the effects of new drugs without harming animals or people. In adult human beings, stem cells are found in many places in the body, including the skin, liver, bone marrow, and muscles. In the organs, stem cells remain inactive until they are needed. The stem cells supply each organ with cells needed to replace damaged or dead cells. Bone marrow stem cells divide to produce more stem cells, additional cells called “precursor cells”, and all of the different cells that make up the blood and immune system. Precursor cells have the ability to form many different types of cells, but they cannot produce more stem cells. Scientists can isolate bone marrow stem cells to use as donor cells in transplants. Adult stem cells, however, are rare and more difficult to detect and isolate. The discovery and isolation of embryonic stem cells has led to debate over whether it is right to use cells taken from human embryos for research. People have expressed concern about using human embryos and collecting some of their cells. Some people consider embryos already to be human beings. The embryos are destroyed in the process of isolating the stem cells. Once removed from an embryo, stem cells alone cannot form another embryo or develop into a human being. Many people consider it wrong to destroy human embryos, but other people believe that the potential medical benefits of stem cells justify their use. Scientists have found that stem cells can grow into 210 types of cells in the human body. Scientists believe that these cells can be used to cure many diseases that they have tried to find a cure for. Such as Cancer, Diabetes, Heart Disease, Parkinson’s and even AIDS. There are so many things that stem cells can do but scientists are limited to their research. There are many people who are opposed to testing of stem cells because of where many of them are obtained. The best type of stem cell comes from an embryo in its early stages these cells can form into any types of cell.
In order for you to understand the purpose of stem cell research you must look at it with an open mind with out letting your morals compromise what you are reading. Newly formed embryos are microscopic groupings of different cells. Scientists believe that the introduction of healthy cells into a sick patient will restore the lost function of the affected part. “Every day, nearly 3000 people die while waiting for an organ transplant” (D’Agnese) and there are more than 66,000 people on an organ donor list. Studies on stem cell research hold an answer for these many people trying to hold onto life. As of 2001 scientist could develop stem cells into more than 110 different types of tissues, such as blood, brain or heart tissue (Robinson).
In 1996, the scientific community and industry was already in discussions that they would develop techniques to manipulate human embryonic stem cells (HES) or a group of cells into different types of organs. They came down in a breakthrough: genetic medicine, or genetic engineering. This new work is considered groundbreaking for the science of human embryonic stem cell research and the whole country is looking at them with interest.
Biomedical technologies have changed the way we think about and treat patients and the way we treat diseases, diseases have changed how we treat people. Some doctors and medicine departments now say they are changing the way they approach research, and in that period of research medical organizations are starting to look into these techniques.
Dr. Peter Pardo of Stanford University, who has a PhD in biology, created a method of engineering a type of embryonic stem cell called a microgene, which is called mesenchymal stem cell. That was a “fancy name” for cells designed to replace the usual skin in the stem cells’ cells.
Dr. Pardo and his team had worked for many years on such techniques with the lab at UCLA. The researchers developed a tiny “femoral surface” that was “submerged” between the DNA of the microgene cells and the corresponding protein in their host cells, called fibroblast growth factor. The research team then injected the femoral surface of the microgene cells with a particular type of gene, called β-fibroxyandrostenes, into the host microgene cells. They then used a special gene to “replenish” the protein in the “femoral surface” of each “fibroid” and the FGF3 gene. The procedure led to a significant reduction of the number of microgene cells in the end stage of the disease.
One of the key findings in Pardo’s lab was that this discovery led to a more complete reconstruction of the human immune system. Although the ability of the human to enter the body normally has been limited, its ability to adapt to new environments and diseases has been restored to normal levels. Nowadays, all of the human immune systems that are able to respond to attacks of the common diseases in the world could be “replenished” in an animal.
Dr. Kiyonori Kobayashi of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Shibuya University was also on the team that made the breakthrough and recently became a member of the Nobel Committee. His team had previously been trying to modify cells from human cells using an approach called “biocompatibility” and then it turned out there was a difference in function between their target cells and their embryonic stem cells. Dr. Kobayashi and his colleagues said that they achieved the same result using “non-lethal or non-destructive” methods.
But Dr. Pardo and his colleagues
Now begins the dilemma, if these cells can be so useful why are they not being used? Research on stem cells are still ongoing the first stem cell was discovered in 1998, though many advances have been made since then this is still a relatively new topic of scientists. On November 5, 2001 a company called Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) was the first to actually clone an embryo with the hope of obtaining stem cells without destroying more embryos. With this experiment scientists tried to use new eggs which had their nuclei removed, rather than making a copy of the cell. These cells developed from one to eight cells but no stem cells were produced. This might seem like a failure but it shows there is hope that it could be done. There are many reasons to help prove the fact that the use of stem cells does not equal the destruction of a life. Supporters if stem cell research believe that embryos composed of only a few cells that are being stored in a lab are not alive, because they are frozen. They may have once had the potential to live, and though this potential was lost, it is not because of stem cell research. Many of the cells that are being used come from ended pregnancies when life would not develop anyway. If an embryo were to go unused, why not use it instead to save another life? There are actually