We talk about stem cells in Biology class a lot for general interest. My understanding is yes- every cells from anywhere has a complete copy of the DNA but in most cells most of the DNA is turned off so a skin cell doesn't act like a heart cell or kidney cell, or a lung cell doesn't act like a muscle cell. Stem cells don't have all these genes turned off and can become any cell like a skin cell, heart cell, kidney cell etc.
But stem cells from embryos is a hot topic. Now the big advance is scientists figure out how a regular cell from adult into a stem cell like from the embryo. In class we discuss Dr. James Thompson. He was the scientist who first discovered the way to make stem cells divide in labs. Now he discover how to make regular adult cell into stem cell - no embryo so not a hot topic about abortion etc.
From The New York Times: Man Who Helped Start Stem Cell War May End It
Stem cells, universal cells that can turn into any of the body’s 220 cell types, normally emerge only fleetingly after a few days of embryo development. Scientists want to use them to study complex human diseases like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s in a petri dish, finding causes and treatments. And, they say, it may be possible to use the cells to grow replacement tissues for patients.
The problem until now had been the source of the cells — human embryos.
The topic, says R. Alta Charo, a University of Wisconsin ethicist, “took on an almost iconic quality the same way Roe v. Wade has.”
And on Tuesday, Dr. Thompson's laboratory was one of two that reported a new way to turn ordinary human skin cells into what appear to be embryonic stem cells without ever using a human embryo.
Now with the new technique, which involves adding just four genes to ordinary adult skin cells, it will not be long, he says, before the stem cell wars are a distant memory. “A decade from now, this will be just a funny historical footnote,” Dr. Thomson said in the interview.
I am very excited about the research.
