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Promise and Peril of Stem Cells. J. Kirk Brown Tracy High School. Cloning in the News. What are Stem Cells?. NIH Definitions. Stem cells - cells that have the ability to divide for indefinite periods in culture and to give rise to specialized cells.
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Promise and Peril of Stem Cells J. Kirk Brown Tracy High School
NIH Definitions • Stem cells - cells that have the ability to divide for indefinite periods in culture and to give rise to specialized cells. • Pluripotent -capable of giving rise to most tissues of an organism. • Totipotent - having unlimited capability. Totipotent cells have the capacity to specialize into extraembryonic membranes and tissues, the embryo, and all postembryonic tissues and organs.
Source of Stem Cells • ES vs EG lines • Embryonic Stem Cells • From IVF embryos • Embryonic Germ Cells • From Aborted Fetuses
Major Ethical Issues • Two Major Issues: For those who believe that the embryo has the moral status of a person from the moment of conception, research (or any other activity) that would destroy the embryo is considered wrong and should not take place. For those who believe otherwise, arriving at an ethically acceptable policy in this arena involves a complex balancing of a number of important ethical concerns. Although many of the issues remain contested on moral grounds, they co-exist within a broad area of consensus upon which public policy can, at least in part, be constructed. • ETHICAL ISSUES IN HUMAN STEM CELL RESEARCH VOLUME I Report and Recommendations of the National Bioethics Advisory CommissionSept 1999
What about Adult Stem Cells? • Some Stem cells live in the body of humans. • Most of these cells are called Multipotent (most adult stem cells). They can be induced to become fewer tissues than Pluripotent Stem cells that are derived from Embryos. • New research is showing that we can induce adult stem cells to become more pluripotent.
Umbilical Cord Blood Storage for Pluripotent Stem Cells • COMPANYWEBSITE • Alpha Cordwww.alphacord.com • California Cryobank, Inc.www.cryobank.com • Cord Blood Registrywww.cordblood.com • CorCellwww.corcell.com • CORD,Inc.www.cordbloodforlife.com • CordPartnerswww.cordpartners.com • Cryo-Cell Int.www.cryo-cell.com • Future Health Technologies(UnitedKingdom)www.futurehealthtechnologies.com • GeneAngelwww.geneangel.com • Lifebank, Inc.www.lifebankusa.com • Lifebank Cryogenics Corp.(Canada) www.lifebank.com • New England Cord Blood Bank, inc.www.cordbloodbank.com • Securacell, Inc.www.securacell.comUK Cord Blood Bank(United Kingdom)www.cordbloodbank.co.ukViaCordwww.viacord.com
Potential Benefits • Organ shortage (long term) • Tissues for Treatments (shorter term) • Valves, Skin, Nerves for Spinal Cord Injuries • Diabetes (Type 1)
Concerns • Stem Cell Sources • Limits with Sources • Embryo vs Fetus • Rights of Fetus • Rights of Embryo
Next Steps S. Korea Gives OK to Stem-Cell Research • Educate the Public • Read about the Issues • Become informed voters • California is Leading the U.S. • Proposition 71 provides $3 billionin state funding over next decade
Patents • PAT. NO. Title • 6,258,998 Method of cloning porcine animals • 6,265,546 Prostate cancer gene • 6,147,276 Quiescent cell populations for nuclear transfer in the production of non-human mammals and non-human mammalian embryos • 6,255,112 Regulation of hematopoietic stem cell differentiation by the use of human mesenchymal stem cells 6,271,436 Cells and methods for the generation of transgenic pigs • 5,776,679 Assays for the DNA component of human telomerase • 6,248,527 Method of detecting risk of type II diabetes based on mutations found in carboxypeptidase E
Bibliography • ETHICAL ISSUES IN HUMAN STEM CELL RESEARCH VOLUME I Report and Recommendations of the National Bioethics Advisory Commission National Bioethics Advisory Commission Sept 1999 • Berg, Paul Biochem 118 Lecture Stanford Universityhttp://cmgm.stanford.edu/biochem118/Stem%20Cell.html Accessed 1/17/2005 • Human Stem Cell Research Promise and Problems http://www.northwestern.edu/science-outreach/stemcell/stemcells.html Accessed 1/17/2005 • Picture at the top http://science.howstuffworks.com/brain1.htm • National Institutue of Health http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/basics4.asp • http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~sfl/rlb_stem.htm drawn image