So the FDA is cool

[Giga]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/01/23/stem.cell/
I can't wait to see what this research results in down the line

[Mr. Ron]

awesome

[TheDarkHorse]

hm...im not so advanced on this topic. Anyone know if adult stem cells were banned, and why they opt to use embryonic over adult?

[Giga]

Basically, it's less controversial than taking them from an embryo, because the adult won't die when you take samples of them.

[TheDarkHorse]

that I'm familiar with. I'm just curious to know if Adult stem-cells were also banned with embryonic, and why this particular research is dealing with embryonic cells rather than adult stem cells.

[Giga]

oh gg reading comprehension
i'm interested in this too, so I'll read in a bit more

[VomitStainedCretin]

I thought the harvesting of stem cells from embryos was primarily because they're much more plentiful in foetuses than adults. Indeed I wasn't aware of adults having particularly many stem cells in them at all.

[gregulus]

I thought the harvesting of stem cells from embryos was primarily because they're much more plentiful in foetuses than adults. Indeed I wasn't aware of adults having particularly many stem cells in them at all.

Adult stem cells are largely multipotent, not pluripotent like embryonic stem cells are. What this means is adult stem cells are typically restricted in what type of cell they can differentiate into. Usually, adult stem cells can only differentiate into any type cell that belongs to the organ that the adult stem cell comes from. Embryonic stem cells, on the other hand, can differentiate into any cell at all. Recently, there has been major headway in actually turning a regular somatic cell into a cell that is thought to be equivalent to an embryonic stem cell in that the induced cells are thought to be pluripotent. Basically, researchers can transfect somatic cells with genes required for pluripotentcy. There have been some pretty big advances in this within the last 3 years or so. It's pretty exciting stuff.

[VomitStainedCretin]

Adult stem cells are largely multipotent, not pluripotent like embryonic stem cells are. What this means is adult stem cells are typically restricted in what type of cell they can differentiate into. Usually, adult stem cells can only differentiate into any type cell that belongs to the organ that the adult stem cell comes from. Embryonic stem cells, on the other hand, can differentiate into any cell at all. Recently, there has been major headway in actually turning a regular somatic cell into a cell that is thought to be equivalent to an embryonic stem cell in that the induced cells are thought to be pluripotent. Basically, researchers can transfect somatic cells with genes required for pluripotentcy. There have been some pretty big advances in this within the last 3 years or so. It's pretty exciting stuff.Ah thank you, that explains that.

[gregulus]

So today Rudolf Jaenisch was speaking at my university on his work with iPS (induced pluripotent stem) cells. He has collaborated with a scientists here on the subject and together they have used iPS cells to cure sickle-cell anemia in mice. Keep in mind, this lecture was not advertised school wide, but rather only advertised at the graduate school facilities as the average person probably doesn't care about iPS cells. Anyway, the faculty member I work with, a graduate student from my lab and myself head over to the lecture around the time it's supposed to start and the lecture hall is so packed we had to leave. The line had all but stopped behind this sort of protruding wall so trying to see was a moot point. Total boner-kill. My mentor and myself left, along with another faculty member in Biochemistry and a fair amount of others who suffered our same fate.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/318/5858/1920 a link to the study regarding sickle-cell anemia.

[mph4ever]

i hate to simplify this but heres what i am getting

bloke has spinal cord damage. doctor gets a load of embryonic stem cells because they have the ability to grow into any type of cell. doctor injects the injured or broken part of the spinal cord with the stem cells in the hope that the stem cells will grow into the type required to fix the spinal cord. right?

so who thinks this is actually a bad idea? and why?

[gregulus]

i hate to simplify this but heres what i am getting

bloke has spinal cord damage. doctor gets a load of embryonic stem cells because they have the ability to grow into any type of cell. doctor injects the injured or broken part of the spinal cord with the stem cells in the hope that the stem cells will grow into the type required to fix the spinal cord. right?

so who thinks this is actually a bad idea? and why?

True embryonic stem cells come from a cluster of cells inside of the blastocyst, a stage of embryonic development ~5 days after fertilization. Harvesting these cells requires the destruction of the blastocyst and the religious right got all up in arms.

[funluvinhobo]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/22/sunday/main3960219.shtml

i know its only a part of his finger that they grew back with that but i think its really cool, stem cells have massive potential and thats a good thing that the FDA approves them for human trials :)

[mph4ever]

True embryonic stem cells come from a cluster of cells inside of the blastocyst, a stage of embryonic development ~5 days after fertilization. Harvesting these cells requires the destruction of the blastocyst and the religious right got all up in arms.

ok

we should be fertilising eggs for this all the time, shouldn't we?

[hismajestythepope]

gregulus all up on der wikipedia

[1338 h4x0r]

Actually, I think he's a biochemistry major or something

[gregulus]

ok

we should be fertilising eggs for this all the time, shouldn't we?

Well, there's already an large stock of fertilized eggs as a result of in vitro fertilization. Multiple eggs are always fertilized because the likelihood of the first few attempts at failing is rather high. Once one of the eggs works, however, the others are just frozen and eventually will simply be discarded. The Bush administration really put a stranglehold on ESC research, though. That road block may be over (or at least greatly reduced), as scientists in Japan and in the U.S. are doing tremendous work with turning regular somatic cells into cells equivalent to embryonic stem cells.

Actually, I think he's a biochemistry major or something
I am.

[1338 h4x0r]

Heil good guessing

[mph4ever]

Well, there's already an large stock of fertilized eggs as a result of in vitro fertilization. Multiple eggs are always fertilized because the likelihood of the first few attempts at failing is rather high. Once one of the eggs works, however, the others are just frozen and eventually will simply be discarded.

what a waste if they can do so much good. i mean, if you thought there were fertilised eggs that were never going to develop into embryos because of successful implantation already then how do they build an argument to oppose them being used for the benefit of man and medicine.

The Bush administration really put a stranglehold on ESC research, though. That road block may be over (or at least greatly reduced), as scientists in Japan and in the U.S. are doing tremendous work with turning regular somatic cells into cells equivalent to embryonic stem cells.

so the ethical issue finds its roots in religion, fertilisation equals conception and all that