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May 19, 2005
New Stem Cell Technique
Well, while we're on the subject of clones (insert Star Wars joke here)...
South Korean scientists have managed to create functional stem cells directly from adult patients, not using a fertilization or embryonic middle step.
...their method may be less controversial than other work with embryonic stem cells because, by their definition, a human embryo was never actually created.
...
Hwang said his method differs from that first used to derive human embryonic stem cells in 1998 and he proposes using a new term for the cloned embryos -- a "nuclear transfer construct."
"I think this construct is not an embryo," he said. "There is no fertilization in our process. We use nuclear transfer technology. I can say this result is not an embryo but a nuclear transfer construct."
I have some hope that this development will clear up much of the current stem-cell controversy since it should side-step the whole pseudo-abortion issue. You could make the argument here that this is no more "life creating" or "life destroying" than the common practice of donating blood in anticipation of surgery when you will need it back.
Now, unlike what many Democrats have promoted, I don't think that miraculous cures for paralysis and organ failure are right around the corner, only lacking the application of federal funds, but I have high hopes for some good stuff in the fifteen to thirty year timeframe.
Mostly, I suspect that the cure for cancer might some out of this. File this one under "Things we believe but cannot prove", but I've long suspected that cancer is caused by a cell being trigger back into stem-cell mode by accident but without the proper chemical instructions of what to do. If we ever learn to control stems cells the way the optimists promise (e.g. regrowing nerves or organs in place), then we should learn enough to thwart stem cells gone bad.
My father is dying of cancer right now. He's been in stage four for about two years, and I'll be surprised if he lives out the summer. All of this is decades late for him, but it makes it very real to me.
Technology by Dan at May 19, 2005 01:59 PM