Talking about Embryos
The public often have this preconceived notion about stem cell research, that we owe to kill the embryo in order to harvest the embryonic stem cells, right? NO!! well yes just until recently when a group of scientist led by Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology in Worcester, Massachusetts announced this week that they have successfully established embryonic stem (ES) cell lines without having to destroy the embryo.
The trick is to remove a single cell (blastomere) from an early cell mass known as a blastocyst (an
eight-cell human embryo). The same technique, known as preimplantation genetic
diagnosis, is used to biopsy laboratory-made embryos for genetic
abnormalities. After the single blastomere is removed, the seven-cell
embryo goes on to develop normally. The even trickier part is that by suspending this extracted single cell close to the 7-cell mass, it received the proper signals and guidance to continue to proliferate.
Eventually, the blastomeres were removed to a group of mouse support
cells that helped maintain the human cells as ES cells. Meanwhile, the
original blastocyst embryo was safely returned to the freezer. "These
are the first human embryonic stem cells in existence to be made
without destroying an embryo," said Lanza, whose team is preparing the
findings for publication.
With this breakthrough, congress(and especially the white house) really owe to rethink the possible therapeutic benefits of Stem Cell research and regenerative medicine. Now that we have bypass the ethical and legal issues dealing with a human being, the next step should be asking what sort of signals are being passed onto the blastomere that would eventually turn into a pleuripotent ES cell line? I hope, in our life time, we could achieve regenerating livers at least.
So all you alcoholics, praise stem cell research please.
Source: ScienceNOW Daily News, June 19th, 2007
