Stem Cell Research
It shook the whole of Science Community. South Korean Government had spent 40 million U.S. dollars on his research on Stem Cells. The top scientist of South Korea, Hwang Woo-Suk resigned after the initial findings of an investigation by top South Korean University, The Seoul National University. The investigation panel accused him of faking results of at least 9 stem cell lines out of 11 in area of cloning and stem cell research.
Mr. Hwang apologized for hurting the sentiments of South Koreans but he still maintains that these stem cells were patient-specific and this area still belongs to South Korea.
The panel said that these 11 stem cell lines were created only from 2 results he got casting doubts on the rest of 9 stem cell lines.
Earlier also, Mr. Hwang had apologized on ethical grounds for using the eggs of female lab workers.
What are these stem cells?
Stem cells are present all through our body but it is difficult to work with adult stem cells and they may not grow into required tissue. Therefore, scientists use embryonic stem cells that one gets from embryo. These embryonic stem cells can grow into any kind of tissue in our body; they can be used for repair of damaged tissues and it is being contemplated that if someone looses his hand, scientists will be able to grow a new hand through this research.
How does it work?
The nucleus containing the genetic material is taken from the embryo and cloned with the egg cells taken from the female ovary.
This egg cell is fertilized with the nucleus. It is a kind of an embryo now. With chemical process and electric shock, the embryo keeps on dividing and is allowed to grow for 5-7 days until it contains 100 cells. It is now in the form of a sphere called a blastocyst.
By this time, the embryonic stem cells are visible and can be removed and using certain nutrients and chemical processes can be grown further into tissues.
These stem cells when removed can be cultured in the laboratory to develop into many stem cell lines.
These stem cells have the capability to replace or repair your heart in future!
Ethical Issues: Should doctors use human embryo for this research? Most of these stem cells used in research come from embryos left after IVF. Should we become GOD? That way, we will not let a person age and he will become immortal! But that’s long long way to go…
I was reading up on stem cell research for some time now and it comes as a shock to me that this research was not generic but patient-matched!
Mr. Hwang apologized for hurting the sentiments of South Koreans but he still maintains that these stem cells were patient-specific and this area still belongs to South Korea.
The panel said that these 11 stem cell lines were created only from 2 results he got casting doubts on the rest of 9 stem cell lines.
Earlier also, Mr. Hwang had apologized on ethical grounds for using the eggs of female lab workers.
What are these stem cells?
Stem cells are present all through our body but it is difficult to work with adult stem cells and they may not grow into required tissue. Therefore, scientists use embryonic stem cells that one gets from embryo. These embryonic stem cells can grow into any kind of tissue in our body; they can be used for repair of damaged tissues and it is being contemplated that if someone looses his hand, scientists will be able to grow a new hand through this research.
How does it work?
The nucleus containing the genetic material is taken from the embryo and cloned with the egg cells taken from the female ovary.
This egg cell is fertilized with the nucleus. It is a kind of an embryo now. With chemical process and electric shock, the embryo keeps on dividing and is allowed to grow for 5-7 days until it contains 100 cells. It is now in the form of a sphere called a blastocyst.
By this time, the embryonic stem cells are visible and can be removed and using certain nutrients and chemical processes can be grown further into tissues.
These stem cells when removed can be cultured in the laboratory to develop into many stem cell lines.
These stem cells have the capability to replace or repair your heart in future!
Ethical Issues: Should doctors use human embryo for this research? Most of these stem cells used in research come from embryos left after IVF. Should we become GOD? That way, we will not let a person age and he will become immortal! But that’s long long way to go…
I was reading up on stem cell research for some time now and it comes as a shock to me that this research was not generic but patient-matched!
posted by Shoonya at
6:03 PM
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