As researchers we have to keep the ultimate goal in mind: "Improve the quality of life of people with diseases by looking at possible treatments" scientist should also avoid being biased towards a cell type but instead looking at all the alternatives. I do ESC research, but I also use IPScells and adult stem cells. Ultimately we want to use the cell type that shows the most promising results, whichever that cell type is. The argument that ESC research will take money away from adult stem cell research is not necessarily correct. Getting federal awards for research is a very time consuming and painstaking process that requires scientists to present preliminary data that suggests there is potential in the area. This means that in order for money to be awarded, whether it is for stem cells or adult stem cells, scientist first have to show that there is potential.
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Urgh...this is so frustrating and infuriating. I am OK with people having an opinion, even if it is not the same as mine. What really bothers me is that I have been reading most comments, and everyone is so ill informed about the subject and everyone picks bits and pieces to support their arguments but so few people actually understand the big picture. We need someone to write an article that explains in very simple terms what embryonic research entitles, what the policies have been and what those policies mean in terms of availability of resources and amount of research done as well as results obtained as well as the pros and cons of embryonic research....at least then, no matter what the outcome is, people can make an educated decision.
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ll try to leave my opinion out, but instead clarify a few facts about embryonic stem cell (ESC) research:
1. ESC are from the embryo at a very early stage (before implantation) therefore if you are far along to know you are pregnant, the cells are not stem cells anymore. I bring this point because some people seem to think that ESC and abortions go hand in hand. This is a big misconception
2. As it has been pointed out, ESC usually come from embryos left over from in-vitro fertilization (IVF). What that means is that whenever you do IVF they fertilize more than one egg and they try implanting a few and keep the rest frozen in case the first round doesn’t work out. If the person does get pregnant the first time you have the option of keeping the embryos frozen for future use (if you have more babies) or they can throw them away (or use them to create stem cell lines)
3. I think this is a big point that few people have brought up: In order to do ESC research you don’t have to harvest and embryo every time. There are 93 NIH approved cell lines. What that means is that 93 embryos were harvested; the stem cells were isolated and expanded as well as immortalized so that researchers studying stem cells with NIH money can use any of these cell lines. After harvested these cells don’t have the ability to form a baby anymore and the cell lines have already been created
4. This is something that I am not entirely clear on, but I think nobody really is: The ruling made by Judge Lamberth does not mean doing embryonic stem cell research is illegal. It just means that it can’t be done with federal funding. Before Obama’s reform there was even SOME federal funding for ESC research, but it was limited to the approved cell lines which were not that many. After Obama’s reform he approved the creation of new cell lines which were necessary for validation of results obtained with the original lines. Private funding for biomedical research is very hard to come by.
5. It is true that adult stem cells have a lot of potential. It is true that more clinical trials have been done with these cells. The problem with adult stem cells is that, unlike embryonic stem cells, they are not pluripotent. What that means is that bone marrow cells have the ability of becoming blood cells and therefore curing some blood-related diseases, however, they have not been able to differentiate into liver or pancreas… ad same goes for other types of adult stem cells. What happens is that in the very early process of differentiation cells become one of three “germ layers” so one germ layer will form certain tissue but not all tissues. Most available adult stem cells come from mesoderm origin which will be able to form blood cells, muscle cells, bone and cartilage. ESC have not committed to any of the “germ layers” so they can become anything. ESC have not shown a lot of results yet because until just a few months ago the money for research was very limited so not a lot of people could do it and there are a lot more procedures from institutions to get permissions to do research with them.
6. ESC cells have helped us understand how cells develop. By studying ESC researchers have learned how to make cells with ESC characteristic from skin cells (called induced pluripotent stem cells) however, this is relatively new technology and has a lot of drawbacks but by doing more research in ESC we will be able to create new technologies to cure different diseases moving away from ESC
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