Stem Cell Argumentative Essay

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BIO.152 Buse Gizem Danış 2011207120 Embryonic Stem Cells vs Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells: Why do they Generate so Much Excitement Stem cells have an ability to change into other types of cells in body or in laboratory during early life and growth. Since stem cells can generate into a range of cell types such as bone, muscle, skin, cartilage and other specialized types of cells, they have the potential to treat many diseases like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, diabetes and cancer. It is expected that they may also be used to create organs, which means that patients no longer need organ transplants and related surgeries in the long term . Therefore, thanks to the stem cells, the problems of finding a suitable donor and transplant rejection can be solved . "Stem cells are like little kids who, when they grow up, can enter a variety of professions," Dr. Marc Hedrick of the UCLA School of Medicine says. "A child might become a fireman, a doctor or a plumber, depending on the influences in their life -- or environment. In the same way, these stem cells can become many tissues by making certain changes in their environment." There are three types of stem cells, namely unlimited stem cells ( also known as embriyonic stem cells ) , limited stem cells ( also known as adult stem cells ) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) which are produced in the lab by reprogramming adult cells to express ES characteristics. Initially, ebriyonic stem cells are isolated from a four- or five-day-old human embryo that is in the blastocyst phase of development. They are currently obtained with patients’ permission from donors. The embryos are usually extras that have been created in IVF (in vitro fertilization) c... ... middle of paper ... ...derlying pluripotency and differentiation.As it is said above, there are three types of stem cells, including ebriyonic stem cells, adult cells and induced pluripotent stem cells. While there are still many ethical, political and technological barriers to the clinical use of stem cells, they may help to eradicate many disease (therapeutic cloning), and possibly create even for the generation of organs for transplantation (also known as regenerative medicine). References : http://biotech.about.com/od/faq/f/stemcells.htm https://www.stanford.edu/group/hopes/cgi-bin/wordpress/2011/07/induced-pluripotent-stem-cells-the-future-of-tissue-generation/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_pluripotent_stem_cell http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/pages/basics10.asp http://www.kokhucredernegi.org.tr/tur/kok_hucre/embriyo.htm

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