Exploring Stem Cell Science: A Comprehensive Overview

1. UNDERSTANDING STEM CELLS By- Sayee Jadhav

2. Presentation Overview What are stem cells? What makes a cell a stem cell? Types of stem cells Stem cell timeline Generation of stem cell lines in the laboratory Major uses of stem cells The promise of stem cells research Are the promises of stem cells realistic? Ethical and moral issues

3. Concept of Stem cell

4. What makes a cell a stem cell? • Self renewing • Gives rise to mature, specialized cells • Long-term self renewal • Unspecialized: Pleuripotent or multipotent

5. Types of stem cells Based on ability to regenerate

6. Types of stem cells

7. Types of stem cells Embryonic stem cells Based on source of stem cells • Source: Present in umbilical cord or placenta of newborn • Relatively easy to identify, isolate, grow, and maintain in laboratory • Risk of creating teratomas (tumors) from implanting undifferentiated stem cells • Ethical concerns due to destruction of blastocyst

8. Types of stem cells Adult stem cells • Source: Bone marrow, spleen, peripheral blood, fat (in liposuction) • Difficult to identify, isolate, grow, and maintain in laboratory • Produce limited no. of cell types • No major ethical issues have been raised

9. Stem cell timeline • 1956- First successful bone marrow transplant • 1998- The first human embryonic stem cells are isolated • 2002- Pancreatic cells derived from mouse embryonic stem cells cure diabetes in mice • 2004- The type of nerve cell lost in Parkinson’s disease is produced from human embryonic stem cells

10. Generation of stem cell lines

11. Major use of stem cells • Bone marrow transplantation Autologous procedure Allogenic procedure

12. Major use of stem cells • Neurological disorder

13. The promise of stem cell research

14. Are the promises of stem cells realistic? • The basic research needed to develop viable therapeutic options is a lengthy process that may extend over many years and decades. • Legal issues that will affect stem cell applications include how to address intellectual property concerns and how to apply and enforce diverse and sometimes conflicting state and national laws. • Social issues include concerns about the destruction of embryos, the distribution of the benefits of the research, and the protection of both physical and privacy interests of egg and sperm donors and clinical research subjects.

15. Ethical and moral issues • Is an embryo a person? • Embryonic stem cell research uses removing inner cell mass from excess blastocysts in IVF treatment. • This prevents the blastocysts from continuing to develop into a human being. • Some religious groups believe that life of human begins at conception, thus opposing stem cell research. • Some groups believe that embryo gains a moral value of a human being only after a few weeks of development (fetus).

16. Ethical and moral issues • Relationship of stem cell research to reproductive cloning: Nuclear transfer “Human reproductive cloning should not now be practiced. It is dangerous and likely to fail.” • Scientists use nuclear transfer, create blastocyst, remove inner cell mass from them, which is further used to create stem cell lines. • Reproductive cloning uses nuclear transfer, create blastocyst, which is then implanted into the uterus and allowed to develop fully.

17. Ethical and moral issues • The ethics of human-animal chimera • Chimeras are organisms composed of cells or tissues from more than one individual. • Chimeras considered essential in research, since no therapy can be tested on humans without first testing on animals. • Creation of chimeras morally acceptable as long as the chimera has no sense of human consciousness

18. Questions?

19. THANK YOU