Monkeys Born Form Stem Cells
Although this sounds crazy, scientists from the Oregon National Primate Research Center were able to take stem cells and actually convert them to living/ breathing monkeys by a new strategy. Instead of using embryonic stem cells from lines of cells grown
in petri dishes, scientists used early-stage stem cells taken
directly from monkey four-cell embryos to create 10
genetically mixed embryos.
DNA was combined and the fetuses were incubated. This resulted in 3 of the monkeys surviving. Surprisingly, all of them turned out to be male. This is because of the masculine gene domination. Based on this experiment, scientists have discovered that this can be used to grow whole animals.
They also realized that cells from a living embryo is way better than ones that have been frozen. Scientists using stem cells have developed our lives in so many ways. Using stem cells scientists can grow new body parts, including replacement organs, and initially new
nerve fibers for those who have suffered paralysis. It also helps to cure grow new body parts, including replacement organs, and initially new
nerve fibers for those who have suffered paralysis. It also bodes well
for curing Parkinson's disease, which is a disorder of the brain that leads to shaking (tremors) and difficulty with walking, movement, and coordination.
NOS Themes:
1.) Science is collaborative, this experiment was a group effort and scientists used each other to support their experiment.
2.) Science is constantly changing, this experiment now shows that not only body parts can be created with stem cells but entire organisms.
3.) Science is based on evidence, researchers used evidence from the results of petri dish stem cells and stem cells from a living embryo and discovered that a living embryo's stem cells are way more sufficient.
Article:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/240036.php
This article is very interesting. I found anouther website that talkes about stem cells in general: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/info/stem_cell/
ReplyDeleteafter reading ths I also thought another NOS theme could be:
Science is subject to debate, because there is a lot of controversy about the moral and legal side of using stem cells.
Role of motivation and curiousity, because studying stem cells in different animals lead to new discoveries.
I found another article about the development of the monkeys. What I thought was interesting was that they combined DNA from 6 monkeys to create the new ones, so each one could have up to six parents. This completely goes against the basic rules of sexual reproduction and all the stuff about how you get half of your DNA from your mother and half from your father. Also, imagine the implications of this if someone developed a human using this technique that had six parents. In that, I agree with Rebecka about how there are lots of moral questions with stem cells.
ReplyDeleteCool article I just read an article similar to this that discussed using stem cells to cure different kinds of heart diseases (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/257986.php. In regards to the above comments, scientists are working on a way to take the controversial part of stem cell research away by extracting DNA from an embryo with micro needles that don't damage the embryo. As for this experiment, they are still using embryos, but their from monkeys which is why people don't find this quite as controversial.
ReplyDeleteI think it's really cool that research has come so far that we are able to see things like this. I did some further reading on stem cells and found out how this research isn't very new, but the applications of these stem cells can dramatically reduce certain problems in our lives such as aging, and pathogenic diseases that take tolls on human lives daily. I agree with the above comments that stem cell research is quite controversial with it being used on humans, and if it is to be used on human body parts then the safest would be the umbilical cord. It has already been shown to yield vast amounts of progress in medicines, such as the conversion to being used as brain support cells. I feel like researching on human embryos is not the way to go, but rather with the umbilical cord which is discarded anyway after it served its purpose.
ReplyDeletehttp://lifestyle.inquirer.net/95093/stimulating-stem-cell-growth-naturally
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120117144332.htm
This is such an amazing discovery for science. I just wrote a somewhat similar post about making species, but mine involved extinct species. Now that scientists know they can create a living animal from living cells, there is a greater possibility that they can create a living animal from old, frozen cells, een though it may be harder. This is such a breakthrough for science because they are basically making liing organisms and now they may be able to resurrect pre-existing organisms.
ReplyDeletemy article http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=de-extinction-to-bring-back-extinct-species-but-challenges-conservation