Morgan BellStem cells from adult skin cells
November 26th 2007 19:48
Stem cell research has shown incredibly promising results for treating ailments that traditional medicine has no answer for.... stem cells are something similar to unshapen clay; they contain all the materials for a normal cell, but haven't been shaped for a function.
Scientists have successfully created heart tissue and nerves by shaping stem cells, which means they could be used to repair damage to the body that is not regenerated.
Stem cells have been the source of heated controversy, however... it seemed that the only way to get stem cells was from embryonic tissue, which meant, in a sense, using conceived fetuses to get the stem cells.
In the US, President George W. Bush has used his presidential veto to put his foot down on stem cell research, effectively banning it in the USA.
Now, all that may change - American and Japanese researchers have managed to create stem cells from ordinary adult skin cells, which means that the source of the controversy is removed.
The researchers pulled this fast trick by deprogramming cells into an earlier state. From the Wired magazine article:
" The technique essentially reverts mature cells to an embryo-like state. Normally, skin and other mature adult cells are locked into their biological fate. Scientists say the cells have "differentiated." But in the new research, scientists added genes to mature cells that turned back their cellular clocks, or dedifferentiated them, restoring them to an immature, unprogrammed state.
"Nobody knows exactly what happens, but when we introduce the genes, it basically changes gene expression inside the cell, and that changes the fate of the skin cells," Yu said. "Some eventually turn into stem cells.""
Read the Guardian Science blog article on the subject.
*this image is taken from this biomedical image page.
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Comment by Michaelie
Flick Wit
Michaelie
Comment by Damo
The breakthrough in Japan.
The fother of Dolly the clone dropping any research into Embryonic Stem Cells
and now the US Skin Cells.
Seems to me that there is a storm going on in the scientific community.
Could be we can get the pluses with out any of the controversial minuses.
Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
Damo, yeah, yeah! This advance avoids part of the controversy over stem cells...
Comment by Lara M
Love Speaks
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