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Possible Stem Cell Breakthrough

Source- National Geographic news

Quote:

Scientists have turned an ordinary skin cell into what appears to be an embryonic stem cell. The process may eventually eliminate the controversial step of destroying human embryos for stem cell research.

The new technique involves fusing a skin cell with an existing, laboratory-grown embryonic stem cell. The fused, or hybrid, cell is "reprogrammed" to its embryonic state, Harvard University scientists report in the journal Science.

Their paper was published Sunday on the journal's Web site.

The breakthrough may one day quell the debate over stem cell research. But team member Kevin Eggan said the technology is still in early stages and is not a replacement for methods currently used to derive embryonic stem cells.

"This is just beginning of this system," he told reporters in a conference call.

Embryonic stem cells are unspecialized cells. They can grow into any type of cell found in our body.

Scientists hope embryonic stem cells can eventually be used to grow new tissue and replacement organs and to cure a range of ailments, from spinal cord injuries to Alzheimer's disease.

To study embryonic stem cells, researchers developed cell lines from stem cells, which were initially harvested from fertilized human eggs, such as those leftover from in vitro fertilization.

Because harvesting destroys the embryo, in the United States the practice has drawn the ire of many religious conservatives who regard destroying embryos as a form of murder.

New Way

The Harvard research suggests a new way to create embryonic stem cells that may one day eliminate the need to destroy fertilized human eggs.

The new type of stem cells is essentially a rejuvenated version of a person's own skin cells. A stem cell created by the new method would have DNA identical to that of the skin cell donor.

Seems that the whole morality problem may no longer be an issue soon.

Scientists at Harvard Univeristy recently published a paper on "reprograming" cells. In their experiment the scientists were able to change a human skin cell into what appears to be a stem cell. Tampering with embryos mainly hampered this line of studies, but if this technique can be refined then the moral isues would be aliviated. No embryo, no issue.
With this new ability in mind, I'm curious as to what the response would be from any advocates for anti-stem cell research in this forum.

Any thoughts?

That's really really neat. I think stem cell research is something that should be focused on more, and I'm so miffed that people are letting morality get in the way of research. I mean, if a person is going to have an abortion anyway, why throw away perfectly good research material just because you get your panties in a wad?

I think that the stem cell research debate shows a terrible lack of seperation of church and state in the US goverment. I applaud countries who can look past their own myopic moral standards and embrace what's good for society as a whole.

I think morality absolutely should set limits for what type of research is done. Nazi doctors didn't "let morality get in the way of research" but we have higher standards, thank goodness. Many medical mysteries could be solved if we were willing to kill a few people along the way, but we don't do that. Again, thank goodness.

I'm also really glad we're looking for "alternatives" because quite frankly, our current stem cell lines simply don't work that well for research purposes, so fighting to work with them more wouldn't be all that productive.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lindalove

And what if someone were terminally ill and wanted to volunteer for a life ending study? I see no problem there.

The reprogramming sounds intriguing.

The thing that sets me off is that abortions are happening and perfectly good stem cells are destroyed rather than saved.

In the U.S., about 1.37 million abortions are performed each year. If we can harness the potential in those stem cells for research, how many could be saved from the medical science they create? And then, we're talking about actual lives. People, with personalities, with friends, with family, brothers and sisters and father and mothers and such. Actual people, not bundles of cells no one cares about to begin with.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lindalove

Nazi doctors didn't "let morality get in the way of research" but we have higher standards, thank goodness.

But our standards are not so high as to refrain from making use of the tons of invaluable knowledge gained from those heinous experiments. Should we have "morally" let that knowledge slide into oblivion, because of how it was obtained? Or, would it have been even more reprehensible to have done so?

Quote:

Originally Posted by analog

In the U.S., about 1.37 million abortions are performed each year. If we can harness the potential in those stem cells for research, how many could be saved from the medical science they create?

Although I agree with your general premise, I believe that the pro-life view is that some doctors might be more inclined to preform an abortion that they might other wise not, in order to "harvest" themselves some research data. Well...maybe, and maybe not. I think that it's best to try to bring a little good...out of a bad situation?