Stem Cells Cloning Cancer

1. Stem CellsCloningCancer

2. Stem Cell Research

3. What Are Stem Cells? • Stem Cells are unspecialized cells, this means that they do not have a specific function in the body yet. • They are cells that are capable of dividing and renewing themselves for long periods. • Stem Cells can become specialized cells. This means that these cells can be given a specific function for the body.

4. What do stem cells look like? Human embryonic stem cell colonies in different stages of development. An Embryonic stem cell

5. A Clump of Stem Cells

6. There are two basic types of Stem Cells: Embryonic & Adult

8. Embryonic Stem Cells • Embryonic stem cells come from embryos. • Five days after fertilization, the human embryo becomes a hollow sphere of about 100 cells. The embryonic stem cells are in the center of the sphere. • These stem cells have the ability to transform themselves into any other type of cell in the body.

9. How Embryonic Stem Cells are obtained and Grown

11. Adult Stem Cells • Adult Stem cells are not completely specialized cells found among functional cells in a tissue or organ like the brain, skin and liver. • The primary role of adult stem cells are to maintain and repair the tissue that they are found. • They can only become cells or tissues for the area of the body where they are found. • In adults there are a very small amount of stem cells in each tissue.

12. Differences Between Embryonic and Adult Stem Cells

13. Why Are They Important? • Potential is enormous because they can help us to understand more about the development of the human body. • They have the ability to restore any type of cell and could help cure nearly any disease, condition or injury. • They hold the promise of the complete regeneration of the human body.

15. What could stem cells be used to treat someday? • Cancer • Alzheimer disease • Diabetes • Spinal cord injuries • Hemophilia • Muscular dystrophies

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17. Cloning

18. CLONE 1. A cell, group of cells, or organism that is descended from and genetically identical to a single ancestor. 2. An organism descended asexually from a single ancestor. CLONING 1. To make multiple identical copies of a DNA sequence. 2. To create or propagate an organism from a clone cell. 3. To produce a copy of self. DEFINITIONS

20. USEFULNESS • Cloning can be used to test for genetic diseases • Regenerate nerves or spinal cord tissue • Help in plastic surgery • Clone organs for transplantation • Grow skin grafts for burn victims • Manufacture bone, fat, and cartilage

21. Animal Cloning Dolly and her surrogate mother.

22. The Biotechnology of Reproductive Cloning Even under the best of circumstances, the current technology of cloning is very inefficient. Many of the cloned animals die. Cloning provides the most direct demonstration that all cells of an individual share a common genetic blueprint.

23. Why Clone Animals? Five genetically identical cloned pigs. To answer questions of basic biology For pharmaceutical production. For herd improvement. To satisfy our desires (e.g. pet cloning).

24. Recombinant DNA, Gene Cloning, and Pharmaceutical Production These are mature and widely utilized biotechnologies. DNA can be cut at specific sequences using restriction enzymes. This creates DNA fragments useful for gene cloning.

25. Bacteria and their plasmids are used for genetic engineering. Plasmids are small circles of DNA found in bacteria. Pieces of foreign DNA can be added within a plasmid to create a recombinant plasmid. The result is a bacterial cell that can produce the protein that the geneticist wants, along with all of the proteins that the bacterium needs to survive.

26. MORAL/ETHICAL ISSUE What are the implications of cloning? How will cloning affect the medical field? What will be the effect on the gene pool? Is there potential for abuse? How should it be regulated? Would you consider cloning yourself?

27. Cancer – Mitosis Gone Wild

28. Cancer • Definition / Causes • Cancer is the uncontrolled growth of cells • Changes in a cells’ DNA can lead to unrestrained cell reproduction • Cells are produce a growth factor and never stops dividing OR • Cells do not produce a suppressor protein and it never stops dividing

29. Cancer • Tumors - 2 types • Benign - slow growing, noninvasive, no metastasis • Malignant - rapid growth, invasive, metastatic

30. Genetic Connections to Cancer • Some forms of cancers have been shown to be associated with a particular gene sequence. • People who have this gene are more likely to develop a particular form of cancer. • Using Gene Therapy may be a method of protecting people against these cancer genes.

31. Genetic Connections to Cancer • One day, perhaps in the distant future, stem cells may help repair diseased tissues. But there is a far more pressing reason to study them: stem cells are the source of at least some, and perhaps all, cancers. • At the heart of every tumor, some researchers believe, lie a handful of aberrant stem cells that maintain the malignant tissue. • The idea, if right, could explain why tumors often regenerate even after being almost destroyed by anticancer drugs. It also points to a different strategy for developing anticancer drugs, suggesting they should be selected for lethality to cancer stem cells and not, as at present, for their ability to kill just any cells and shrink tumors.