Research On Stem Cell Research - 1731 Words

Matt Anderson, Dalecia Borum, Lauren Kataja, Gabrielle Walker Lab Section 57 Wilfredo Evangelista November 18, 2014 Prohibit Stem Cell Research Many individuals believe that the beginning of stem cell research began in the early 2000s. However, the history of stem cell research can be traced back to the mid 1800s, when the make-up of human life, known as cells, were discovered (Solter 2006). Without this discovery, stem cell research would cease to exist. Prior to what has become known as stem cell research, scientists began studying embryonic stem cells using mouse embryos in 1981, which makes stem cell research a fairly new topic of interest. It is through this research on mice that has given scientists the ability to collect stem cells†¦show more content†¦This differentiation should take place in vitro, in vivo in tumors derived from injected ES cells and in chimaeras. Most stringently, an ES cell should be able to give rise to germ cells in chimaeras and these germ cells should in turn be able to develop into normal, fertile adults† (Solter 2006). Growing human cells in a laboratory may sound fascinating to scientists, however, to the average human being, it can often sound inhumane. The stem cells that these scientists use come from a variety of places, including embryos formed through in vitro fertilization and somatic cell nuclear transfer, aborted fetuses, umbilical cord blood cells, adult tissues, and reprogrammed adult tissue cells. These collected stem cells come in one of two forms: an adult stem cell or an embryonic stem cell. Just as the name suggests, adult stem cells are those that have been extracted from an adult organism. The primary roles of adult stem cells in a living organism are to maintain and repair the tissue in which they are located. These cells tend to be specialized in reproducing the tissues from which they have been taken and are found among differentiated cells in an organ. Embryonic cells, on the other hand, are derived from embryos. Most of these embryos are fertilized in a test tube, and some people consider this to be unnatural and