Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] Korean stem cell rout...

[Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Sun, 1 Jan 2006, Christian M. Cepel wrote:

> What does this mean for the subject of stem cells on a broader basis? 
> There are so many different 'types' of uses of stem cell that are 
> currently being discussed out there that I (and I think the average 
> public) cannot keep them straight... therapudic cloning, etc...

Stem cells are not differentiated.  That means that they can still grow 
into pancreas cells, liver cells, brain cells, etc.  Stem cells can be 
taken from fetal tissue.  Another plan is to attempt to clone an "embryo" 
from, say, some of your skin, then use that embryo to produce stem cells 
to be used in, say, your brain (e.g., in the substantia nigra to treat 
Parkinson's disease).  That cloned "embryo" certainly is not an embryo in 
the usual sense and it isn't clear that it ever could become a person, so 
it's use in research is less likely to be questioned by religious 
ideologues.  (Or maybe it's more correct to say that the objections of 
religious ideologues will carry less weight with cloned "embryos" than 
with ordinary frozen embryos.)


> There's the research Bush banned, there's the issue on the 2006 Missouri 
> ballot, there's all these other debates and conflicts and hopes.
>
> Hopes.

Research is always undertaken in the hope of discovering useful things, 
but one never knows until it is completed what one will find.


> Even for those opposed to a lot of the procedures, the biggest thing 
> regarding stem cell research in general has been Hope.  You've got all 
> these celebrities and folks with reputable names out there pushing for 
> cures for all sorts of ailments and disease... Michael J. Fox is the 
> first that comes to mind with his own battle with Parkinsons, and, if I 
> recall, Superman was hoping for some therapudic solutions/treatments for 
> those with spinal chord injuries before he expired.

The basic idea is that you can use stem cells to replace other cells that 
have died.  So if your pancreas doesn't produce insulin, causing diabetes, 
you might grow some new pancreas cells that do produce insulin.


> What I'm asking is... I don't understand the significance of the Korean 
> research... was all the other research validated based on their work and 
> now rendered invalid, or is there still some exciting (if controversial) 
> stuff still out there?  I.e., is it all a Red Herring, or do you just 
> want to avoid Herring caught in the Asiatic waters off the Korean 
> peninsula?

The Korean researcher claimed to have cloned human cells, cloned a dog and 
produced human stem cells from cloned tissue.  He probably made it all up. 
So this means that we are stuck using frozen embryos, but not in the US 
where GWB in his infinite wisdom has decided that they should be thrown in 
the trash instead.

You might like to think of an embryo as a pre-human, but most frozen 
embryos are pre-trash because that's where they'll go when they're thawed 
out.

Mike

_______________________________________________
discussion mailing list
EMAIL:PROTECTED
http://mlug.missouri.edu/mailman/listinfo/discussion