...Stem Cell Research Stem cell research has played a vital role in modern-day society. This research has done many things that will change mankind forever. How can stem cell research be explained and described? Furthermore, there are many benefits of stem cell research, and unfortunately, there are many disadvantages of this research. Additionally, this has caused many ethical debates of whether the use of stem cell research is right or wrong. All of these statements and questions will determine how stem cell research shapes the future. To begin, how can stem cell research be explained and described? In this type of research, people discover how to fix imperfect tissues. Additionally, researchers study how embryonic stem cells can develop into many different types of tissues. Stem cell research began when Jamie Thomson and a group of people from a college made the first embryonic stem cell. Because of him and his team, the research has developed into something even larger. Now, stem cell therapy is used to treat many diseases such as diabetes, and Parkinson’s disease. “It had long been believed that adult tissue does not...
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...Stem Cell research is very controversial topic, but to understand what is stem cell we must first understand what exactly is it. According to Matthew C. Nisbet “When it comes to public opinion about controversial issues related to science and technology, many policy makers and scientists assume that increased public understanding of science will lead to increased public support. So as people understand science, and the research behind stem cell, than we can get support for it, but will it work”. Stem cells are unspecialized cells capable of forming into any different type of cells through cell division. They are very important, because they can form any type of human organ, and bones. Scientist have found some major research to turn stem cells,...
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...child. This is how genetically identical monozygotic twins are created. Artificial embryo splitting has been successfully implemented in various mammals including sheep (Willadsen, 1981), cows (Willadsen, 1989), mice (Agrawal and Polge, 1989) and monkeys (Chan et al., 2000), but has been performed only to the pre-implantation stages in humans (Hall et al., 1993). Recently the American Society for Reproductive Medicine declared that human cloning by artificial embryo splitting was an ethical procedure to increase the number of implantable human blastocysts used in certain infertility treatments (ASRM, 2000). However, embryo splitting can produce only a limited number of cloned individuals as the early embryo can be separated only a limited number of times, and the procedure is not able to produce a ‘‘clone’’ of an adult that already exists. The other method for producing cloned humans, nuclear transfer, does not suffer from these limitations, and the rest of this article will focus on human cloning achieved via this technique. Nuclear transfer (or more specifically somatic cell nuclear transfer) is a conceptually simple procedure. The J. A. Byrne ¡ J. B. Gurdon ( ) Wellcome CRC Institute, Tennis Court Road Cambridge CB2 1QR and Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, UK e-mail: j.gurdon/welc.cam.ac.uk Fax: π44 1223 334185 U. S....
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...Stem Cells: The Future of Humanity Pg.1 Stem Cells: The Future of Humanity By Javier Rodriguez Stem Cells: The Future of Humanity Pg.2 Abstract The United States is a country that is known for being a world leader in technology, finance, and medicine just to name a few. When people around the world become ill their first thought is usually to bring their loved ones to the US in order to seek help from the top physicians of the respective fields, so it would seem logical that in the field of stem cell research we as a country would be a leader as well. Sadly that is as far from the truth as we can get. For a country with such vast resources, we are constantly hindered by politicians, public policy, and above all fear of the unknown. Whether it be fear of new technology or even fear of public opinion, we tend to err on the side of caution to save face but the inherent problem there is that we sacrifice potential advancements that can save countless human lives and propel the human species into an era unlike any before, where we can survive just about anything that comes at us. We as a people of this country need to open her eyes and realize that the potential of stem cell research has such promise that we, as responsible human beings cannot and should not ignore it. Stem Cells: The Future of Humanity Pg.3 The United States is a country that is seen by the rest of the world...
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...Raymond Swayze Comp II In 2004, 7,266 blood stem cell donations and 1,126 cord blood units were provided in desperate need. More than 50,000 patients worldwide have received blood stem cells from an unrelated donor(WMDA). Different types of stem cells have the ability to heal many types of damaged human tissue. There’s only one type of stem cell that can almost guarantee it can fix any kind of tissue. This is known at the embryonic stem cell. The only way to obtain these cells is by taking them from the embryo, which will ultimately kill the embryo. To some people this is considered a form of abortion. This is such a hot topic because people have to choose to either save a current life, or kill a future life it. Of course there are two sides to every argument. One side is for it and one side is dead set against. Is the price of stem cells worth saving a life? In every opinion you form you must first realize how stem cell research works. The definition of a stem cell is an undifferentiated cell. This means the cell has no true function. Stem cells are placed along specialized cells. Specialized cells include, but not limited to the following, skin cells, muscle cells, or any other cell that plays a specific role in the human body. In the Multiple Scleroses disease the myelin protecting the neuron is missing. When myelin is missing there is constant pain. In a study in 1998 at the University of Wisconsin researchers gathered a group of mice that were genetically deficient...
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...sectors have been acknowledged since the development of this technology. Two categories for product applications of 3-dimmensional printing exist: products to improve individual personal life, such as hearing aids and prosthetic limbs; engineering parts for many consumer products, such as many components of engines, guns and even musical instruments. Whichever contextual application of this technology is desired and utilized, both ethical benefits and weaknesses exist. Multiple American companies including General Electric, Boeing, Nike, Honeywell and others have used this technology in manufacturing motor components, shoes, solar panels and other consumer products. Endless potential applications of 3-dimmensional printing exist for future developments. Interestingly, printing of meat for human consumption as an alternative to harvesting meat from animals is currently being researched. In 2008 PeTA offered a $1 million X-Prize style reward for the first group to synthetically develop such commercially viable meat. This is one case in which proposing ethical dilemmas exist, and the many alternative controversies this topic entails. Further bioethical dilemma’s and considerations exist and will be discussed in detail. Technology To fully understand any ethical dilemmas encapsulating this technology, a considerate knowledge of 3-dimmensional printing is required. First, we will look into the general technology of designing, preparing and yielding products. ...
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...STEM CELLS Science has made many discoveries over the years and its discoveries have helped us understand why things happen and why they happen. We have had many great scientists who devoted their lives in laboratories testing many natural and chemical reactions. Medicine is a field in which over the years science has made a lot of improvements and many scientific tests helped us found the cure of many deadly deceases. Even though there has been a lot done there is still a lot more to be accomplished. In 1981 scientists started testing one of the most amazing discoveries of medicine, Stem Cells. Stem Cells are cells that have the potential to develop into many different types of cell in the body during early life and growth. These serve as a repair system by dividing themselves without any limits to replace other cells, such as muscle cells, red blood cells and brain cells. One of the most potential uses of human Stem Cells would be to replace the necessity of organ donation, which nowadays the demand is very high. These cells can replace specific cells type and renew tissue to help cure Alzheimer’s decease, spinal cord injury, stroke, burns, heart decease, diabetes, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis. One good example is to generate healthy heart muscle cells in a laboratory then transplant the cells into a patient with a heart decease. Type 1 diabetes is another serious condition, which many people suffer specially in this country. New studies...
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...SOMATIC CELL NUCLEAR TRANSFER Name: Institutional affiliation: Date: Introduction Somatic cell nuclear transfer utilizes an egg cell and a body cell to create a viable embryo. As part of the studies of genetics and developmental biotechnology, somatic cell nuclear transfer is commonly known as cloning and has elicited a lot of debate and criticism from fundamentalists and bioethicists who feel it is a breech of ethical boundaries. Also called cloning, this process traces its development back to the mid and late 1800’s when scientists discovered that cell twining was possible. By separating embryonic cells, these scientists created twins with the same characteristics teaching them about genetic material and DNA. McLaren & Council of Europe report “it was not until the mid1950’s that scientists manipulated these cells to form new organisms as frogs became the first subjects of embryonic cloning” (pg. 35). By the mid-1990’s, technical knowhow had improved, and cloning moved up the animal chain to more complex vertebrates such as farm animals. 1996 saw the first instance of a cloning process that had utilized an adult body cell. Dolly, a lamb, received a lot of public attention, but that fizzled out with the realization that human cloning was imminent...
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...Introduction Human embryonic stem cells (hES cells) are currently discussed not only by the biologists by whom they were discovered but also by the medical profession, media, ethicists, governments and politicians. There are several reasons for this. On the one hand, these ‘super cells’ have a major clinical potential in tissue repair, with their proponents believing that they represent the future relief or cure of a wide range of common disabilities; replacement of defective cells in a patient by transplantation of hES cell‐derived equivalents would restore normal function. On the other hand, the use of hES cells is highly controversial because they are derived from human pre‐implantation embryos. To date, most embryos used for the establishment of hES cell lines have been spare embryos from IVF, but the creation of embryos specifically for deriving hES cells is also under discussion. The most controversial variant of this is the transfer of a somatic cell‐nucleus from a patient to an enucleated oocyte (unfertilized egg) in order to produce hES cells genetically identical to that patient for ‘autologous’ transplantation (so‐called ‘therapeutic’ cloning); this may prevent tissue rejection. The question ‘Can these cells be isolated and used and, if so, under what conditions and restrictions’ is presently high on the political and ethical agenda, with policies and legislation being formulated in many countries to regulate their derivation. The UK has been the first to pass...
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...Biology » Outlines Chapter 21 - The Genetic Basis of Development Chapter 21 The Genetic Basis of Development Lecture Outline Overview: From Single Cell to Multicellular Organism * The application of genetic analysis and DNA technology to the study of development has brought about a revolution in our understanding of how a complex multicellular organism develops from a single cell. * In 1995, Swiss researchers identified a gene that functions as a master switch to trigger the development of the eye in Drosophila. * A similar gene triggers eye development in mammals. * Developmental biologists are discovering remarkable similarities in the mechanisms that shape diverse organisms. * While geneticists were advancing from Mendel’s laws to an understanding of the molecular basis of inheritance, developmental biologists were focusing on embryology. * Embryology is the study of the stages of development leading from fertilized egg to fully formed organism. * In recent years, the concepts and tools of molecular genetics have reached a point where a real synthesis of genetics and developmental biology has been possible. * When the primary research goal is to understand broad biological principles, the organism chosen for study is called a model organism. * Researchers select model organisms that are representative of a larger group, suitable for the questions under investigation, and easy to grow in the lab. * For study...
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...Stem cell technology overview In order to gain a better understanding of the many benefits as well as the concerns raised by stem cells research, it is important to first have a general idea of what stem cells are, along with the specific properties the different categories of stem cells possess that make them such a valuable commodity to modern medicine today. Stem cells contain human DNA, and as a result make up the basic building blocks of human organisms. This essentially gives them “unique regenerative abilities”. In that sense they are unspecialized cells “capable of dividing and renewing themselves” into most, if not all of the cell types found in the human body. Three different types of stem cells have been identified by scientists. Not necessarily in order of importance, they start from the embryonic group which carries the greatest potential for becoming any other cell types and as a result, the greatest subject of controversy. The other two types of stem cells are the adult stem cells, which are to a degree less useful and can only become one of a few cell types; and the induced pluripotent stem cells which are specially treated cells that can be processed to behave somewhat like embryonic stem cells. Induced pluripotent stem cells commonly abbreviated as iPS cells or iPSCs are a type of pluripotent stem cell artificially derived from a non-pluripotent cell - typically an adult somatic cell - by inducing a "forced" expression of specific genes. ...
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...Stem Cell Cloning Research Braden Harrah Marshall University Abstract The term cloning of stem cell is used by scientists to describe many different processes that involve making duplicates of the different types of stem cells. In different types of cases, stem cells are duplicated for scientific study and no new results were found during the experiment of trying to clone stem cells. This led to the experiment that led to the cloning of Dolly the sheep in 1997. It used a cloning technique called that scientist have been trying to memorize and resulted in an animal that was a genetic twin. This technique can also be used to produce a stem cell from which cells called embryonic stem cells could be extracted to use in research into potential therapies for a wide variety of diseases. The diseases they are hopefully cure or give therapeutic help to is Parkinson’s and Alztimers disease. Introduction Stem cell cloning has been the overall climax for scientific research. Stem cell cloning has evolved ever since they found out what stem cells could do if they were cloned properly. Based on my research, the assumption that cloning stem cells can help mankind appear to be true. Throughout my research on cloning of stem cells I got the idea that if stem cells were cloned that they can cure common diseases such as diabetes and Alzheimer’s. They need to practice on getting the cloning down right before even trying it on a human. They want to continue research on how to clone stems...
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... Part of the embryo and fetus on whose head is referred to as cranial (head), the last part of the caudal (tail), the ventral side of the ventral and dorsal side of the dorsal. MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF DEVELOPMENT The main characteristics of development includes processes that occur in the process of creating every tissue and organ in the human body. This includes the following processes: 1. The proliferation - increasing the number of cells that occurs as a result of a number of asymmetric cell division by division (when the mother of one daughter cells are formed identical to the mother cell and daughter cell that directs the differentiation); 2. Growth - weight gain and the size of the formed tissue, organ, or whole organism, which occurs as a result of proliferation, ie. creating a large number of cells and the formation of a large amount of extracellular matrix; 3. Determination - predestination cells to be under the influence of inductive factors differentiate into specific cell types (in the body there are about 200 types of cell phenotype). Determination is a restriction...
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...U.S Stem Cell Industry Management of Technology - MGMT 620 (EMBA) Professor – Dr. Gopalakrishnan Norman Cousar Draft Version 3 December 16, 2011 Due to previous government regulations, US companies have not used embryos for stem cell research, and international companies have gained a first mover advantage in commercializing stem cell treatments and therapies. The use of stem cells has opened up a new field called regenerative medicine or cell therapy, which replaces damaged or diseased cells that are in the body with new ones. Stem cells have the ability to develop into many different cell types within the body during the early life and growth cycle. Stem cells repair internal system, by dividing and replenishing other cells. They distinguish themselves by being unspecialized cells, renewing themselves through cell division and under certain physiologic conditions, be chemically induced to become tissue or organ-specific cells with particular functions. There are several different types of Stem Cells: Embryonic Stem Cells (hES), which are derived from embryos, mostly from eggs fertilized in vitro and donated for research with the donor’s permission. Adult Stem Cells (hES), are undifferentiated cells found among differentiated cells in tissue and organs, which can differentiate themselves to yield some or all of the major specialized cell types of that tissue or organ. iPSC Stem Cells: Are also adult cells, genetically reprogrammed to an embryonic stem-cell like...
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...experimentation. Cloned genes can also be used for DNA sequencing, which is the determination of the precise order of all the base pairs in the gene. All of these applications require many copies of the DNA molecule that is being studied. Gene cloning also enables scientists to manipulate and study genes in isolation from the organism they came from. This allows researchers to conduct many experiments that would be impossible without cloned genes. For research on humans, this is clearly a major advantage, as direct experimentation on humans has many technical, financial, and ethical limitations. Importance for Medicine and Industry The ability to clone a gene is not only valuable for conducting biological research. Many important pharmaceutical drugs and industrial enzymes are produced from cloned genes. For example, insulin, clotting factors, human growth hormone, cytokines (cell growth stimulants), and several anticancer drugs in use are produced from cloned genes. Before the advent of gene cloning, these proteins had to be purified from their natural tissue sources, a difficult, expensive, and inefficient process. Using recombinant methods, biomedical companies can prepare these...
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