Once again, I will be talking about stem cells.
According to this article in Time Magazine, scientists from the New York Stem Cell foundation have found a way to use the same method of cloning that was used on Dolly the cloned sheep, to make viable stem cells from adult cells. This is a huge step in the process of getting stem cells to proliferate more in medical cures. Now that we can clone stem cells from adult cells, there is no reason to harvest them from the ovaries/eggs of a woman. This breakthrough means that more specialized stem cells can be made; this is important because the genome of every person is different than the next, which means there is a chance that a person could reject stem cells. With this breakthrough, a person could make his or her own stem cells, which would reduce (if not completely eliminate) gene based complications during transfer. This should lead to an end for the theocratic and ethical responses against stem cells because they’re taken from the eggs of a woman. Of course, there are still other concerns such as cloning, as this research also puts us one step closer to being able to replicate a human being.
Though, to note, this technology is not actually COMPLETELY here yet. Yes, the cells are viable, and yes, the process itself has been discovered; however, there are still many kinks to this process and complications that occur because of it such as extra chromosomes in the cells, which is not a good thing.
This advancement is a great breakthrough for the medical field. The use of stem cells has such a high level of importance when treating fatal illnesses such as cancer. Despite being a new discovery, the future of this innovation has the potential to benefit countless of patients in need. By avoiding the ethical issue of using cells from zygotes, the controversy can no longer prevent those who need care from receiving it.
ReplyDeleteThe medical advancements in cell research is a great improvement for modern day health care. People will have a higher survival rate with cell transfer and end the chances of a cell transfer to be rejected. Further research should be done to prefect this process. Health care could put this new research into good use.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Cassandra,this kind of the research can have an big impact to reduce fatal diseases such as cancer.This is a good start improve our health, especially for people who live in a developing country.However, you mention there are still many kinks to this process and need to be further research.Further research like will this work on every ethnics or genders is important.If this new research got prove work on everyone, it will be a good use in the health care system.
ReplyDeleteAdvancements in medicine have been rising at an exponential rate in the past few years. However, many of these advancements are undeveloped and are far from the stages where they are applicable to the general population, like the discovery of non-embryonic stem cells. Research in stem cells can become limited due to many factors beyond just the ethical issue against the eggs of a woman. Another argument can also be that we are artificially extending life, largely due to the fact that people don't have a real understanding of stem cells. Issues like this prevent the further funding of stem cells and hinder the development of medical research that can be greatly beneficial towards fighting numerous threatening diseases.
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