Stem Cells!

1. Stem Cells! The stem from which new life may sprout By Mitch Naveh

2. What are Stem Cells? • Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that can divided and specialize to make an extremely wide variety of cells with an extremely wide variety of functions. • There are 2 main types: embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells. • Embryonic stem cells are the stem cells produced when a newly fertilized egg begins to divide. They can divide into any kind of tissue. • Adult stem cells are the stem cells that reside in already developed tissue. They can also be found in children and infants, not just adults. They are less versatile in their uses.

3. What makes Stem Cells special? • Stem cells can divide and become any one of many different cell types. • Most other cells are already differentiated and can therefore only perform one set of predetermined actions.

4. What are some examples of Adult Stem Cells? • All the time, blood cells are being created and destroyed in your body. Adult stem cells in bone marrow are the cells responsible for replacing the lost blood cells. Some stem cells divide and form red blood cells, others become different types of white blood cells.

5. How do Researchers intend to use Stem Cells? • Researchers are trying to use stem cells to grow diseased tissue and understand how it develops so they can find out how to prevent them. • ex) Researchers are using the ways in which cells in the brain differentiate in order to understand the processes that go awry and cause Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.

6. How do Researchers intend to use Stem Cells? • Researchers are targeting all kinds of diseases, not just ones in the brain like Alzheimer's disease. • Some medical researchers are using pluripotent stem cells to develop insulin producing cells like those normally found in the pancreas. This method has been tested in mice that have lost the ability to produce insulin in some cells. The implanted cells produced insulin and effectively treated diabetes.

7. More uses of Stem Cells • Scientists have found that certain adult stem cells might be able to replace damaged nerve cells from spinal cord injuries. • Damaged cells in organs could possibly also be replaced by stem cells, allowing experts to replace bad tissue with new, working tissue.

8. A Real Life Case In Lovettsville, Virginia, the racehorse Vintage 'Vinty' Mark was injected with stem cells in an attempt to heal an injured tendon. Soon after, the leg improved dramatically and the horse was able to go back to training.

9. So Where can we get Stem Cells? • Stem cells can be acquired through "in vitro fertilization". This is when an egg is fertilized by a sperm outside of the body. This is a popular treatment for infertility when other methods have failed. "In Vitro" means in glass, and is used because early experiments with living tissues outside organisms were done in glass. Now is merely means outside the body. • When this process is done, and the egg is fertilized, it will divide to become a ball of nearly 100 blastocysts, some of which will be implanted into the woman, some of which will not. After becoming pregnant, couples must decide what to do with the extra embryos. Sometimes they donate them to research, giving researchers a source of embryonic stem cells.

10. Where can we get Stem Cells? (continued...) • Stem Cells can also be made by taking adult cells and "reprogramming" them, genetically, to act like embryonic stem cells. Sometimes this process can include completely replacing the nucleus of an adult cell with one that contains the same genetic information of an embryonic stem cell. • These types of cells are known as induced pluripotent stem cells. • Induced pluripotent stem cells are actually used more commonly as of late, because they don't require a donor to donate an unused embryo.

11. What do people actually know about stem cells? Based on the data collected from my survey... What people know: A majority of people know what a stem cell is, and nearly 2/3 of people surveyed know that they still have stem cells in their body even as adults or near adults. 3/4 also know that stem cells can be acquired from both embryos and from altering other cells. What people don't know: Less than half of the people surveyed know about all of the purposes that stem cells can be used for. Most said that stem cells could be used for growing organs, when in fact, they can also be used for curing diseases, regrowing limbs and cloning living things, which were the other options. Less than 1/4 know that stem cells can be used to cure a multitude of diseases. The majority of people thought that stem cells could only be used for curing Alzheimer's or spinal injuries.

12. Do people think stem cells are ethical? Based on the data collected from my survey... Half of the participants believed that stem cells are ethical and okay to be used, while the other half said it depends on how they are used. Almost none said that stem cells are definitely unethical. When asked to explain their reasoning, those that said stem cells are ethical said that because stem cells could save lives or they just didn't care enough about stem cells to say they are unethical. On the other hand, those who were against it said that they were against abortion or it was against their religion.

13. Understanding the Results Based on the data collected from my survey... People generally know what stem cells are but are extremely uninformed about all of the potential uses that stem cells could have. On the ethics side of things, people are either unsure or perfectly okay with stem cell research, while a small group protests the idea. Barely anybody said they would not let stem cells be used on their bodies under any circumstances which shows how open minded people are about this new medical treatment.

14. Take Away from this Presentation In this presentation we've seen where stem cells can come from, what stem cells can be used for, and how common people view or think about stem cells. All of the information presented to you should get you to at least consider the potential that stem cell research could have in science, but more importantly, in medicine.

15. Picture Links • http://www.docstoc.com/docs/24426742/Lecture-12-Nervous-Tissue-I-Functional-Organization-Spinal-Cord-and-Spinal-Nerves-11-1-Nervous-Tissue-•-Found-in • http://www.docstoc.com/docs/24426742/Lecture-12-Nervous-Tissue-I-Functional-Organization-Spinal-Cord-and-Spinal-Nerves-11-1-Nervous-Tissue-•-Found-in • http://www.business-opportunities.biz/2013/04/25/no-more-blood-banks-growing-red-blood-cells/ • http://www.patentbaristas.com/archives/2007/04/03/warf-stem-cell-patents-knocked-down-in-round-one/ • http://gardenoflearningsc.blogspot.com/2011/11/thumbs-up-award.html

16. Citations 1) Stevens, Allison P. "Stem Cells: The Secret to Change." Science News for Kids. Science for Society & the Public, 10 Apr. 2013. Web. 28 May 2013. 2) "Basics of Stem Cell Research." Basics of Stem Cell Research. American Medical Association, n.d. Web. 29 May 2013. 3) "Frequently Asked Questions." What Are Adult Stem Cells? [Stem Cell Information]. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 June 2013. <http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/pages/basics4.aspx>. 4) "Understanding Mature Tissue or Organ Stem Cells and Their Clinical Application."Adult Stem Cells. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 June 2013. <http://stemcell.stanford.edu/research/adult_stem_cells.html>. 5) Cyranoski, David. "Stem Cells Boom in Vet Clinics." Nature.com. Nature Publishing Group, 10 Apr. 2013. Web. 05 June 2013. <http://www.nature.com/news/stem-cells-boom-in-vet-clinics-1.12765>. 6) "Myths and Misconceptions About Stem Cell Research." California's Stem Cell Agency. California's Institute for Regenerative Medicine, 11 Jan. 2013. Web. 06 June 2013. <http://www.cirm.ca.gov/about-stem-cells/myths-and-misconceptions-about-stem-cell-research>.