The controversy over embryonic stem cell research touches on some of the same fundamental questions that society has grappled with...
ETHICS, MORAL VALUES, AND U.S. LAW
Scientists and society as a whole must consider the ethical implications of stem cell research. As discussed throughout this bookle...
Cancer: Getting to the Root of the Problem
Why are some cancers so hard to eliminate, even after many rounds of chemotherapy? The answer may lie in a few abnormal stem cells. Cance...
Possible Fix for Diabetes?
In people who suffer from type I diabetes, the beta cells of the pancreas that normally produce insulin are destroyed by the patient’s ...
Possible Future Treatment for Parkinson’s Disease?
When most people reach for a pen, their body acts in one smooth and controlled movement. This is because the instant a person ...
The Changed Face of Skin Grafts
For many years, scientists have been harnessing the regenerative capabilities of human skin to treat victims of severe burns using s...
Blood Stem Cells
After scraping a knee or donating blood, the body replenishes the blood cells that are lost by drawing on a small number of semi-sp...
WHY STEM CELL RESEARCH IS BEING PURSUED
Right now, only a few diseases are treatable with stem cell therapies because scientists can only regenerate a few types of tissues. Howev...
Alternatives to Using Embryos in Stem Cell Research
To address ethical concerns about the destruction of blastocysts, scientists are trying to find new ways of obtaining ste m cells that ...
The Role of Animals in Stem Cell Research
For medical research, as well as for research that explores the basic processes in the development of organisms and diseases, scientists of...
Culturing Cell Lines and Stimulating Stem Cells to Differentiate
Cell culture is a term that refers to the growth and maintenance of cells in a controlled environment out- side of an organism. A succ...
Identifying Stem Cells
As early as 1961, scientists knew that adult bone mar- row contained cells that could make all of the blood cell types. But it wasn’t unti...
Adult Stem Cells
Adult stem cells are hidden deep within organs, surrounded by millions of ordinary cells, and may help replenish some of the body’s cells...
Producing Embryonic Stem Cells
Producing Embryonic Stem Cells Using Nuclear Transfer Is Not the Same as Reproductive Cloning The use of nuclear transfer to develop disea...
Sources of Embryonic Stem Cells
In Vitro Fertilization: The largest potential source of blastocysts for stem cell research is from in vitro fertilization (IVF) ...
Embryonic Stem Cells
Embryonic stem cells are derived from the inner cell mass of the blastocyst. In culture, they can self-replicate or produce specialized ce...
Stem cells are found in all of us
Stem cells are found in all of us , from the early stages of human development to the end of life. All stem cells may prove useful for medi...
WHAT IS A STEM CELL?
Ultimately, every cell in the human body can be traced back to a fertilized egg that came into existence from the union of egg and sperm. Bu...
Stem cells: The facts and promises
Stem cells are undifferentiated cells with the capacity of renewal which can be used for regeneration of body cells and tissues. Many pote...