Question

Worksheet Stem Cell Research . Include the proper file naming convention PSY278 wk2 assn_jsmith mmddyyy Assignment Overview Rubric See Written Assignment Rubric for grading delails Stem cell research is a controversial topic in the United States and the world For this assignment, you will conduct research on stem cell research and determine and defend your position on the issue. Grading This assignment is intended for you to apply research and critical thinking skills to support an argument on a controversial issue and communicate effectively Gradable items in assignment Reason #1 to defendSupport or oppose Points that position in writing | Reason #2 to defendsupport or oppose Assignment Details Perform the following tasks Reason #310 detendisupportot oppose Adhered to Writing Conventions Totál Points Complete the reading assignment and the interactive lesson before 30 attempting this assignment . Complete the following o Perfoma search on the Intemetor the online library (LJIRN) for the terms "stem cell and research"or stem cell and contoversy Based on your search, write an essay (approximately 100 to 150 words in length) in the space provided in the Assignment Worksheet section on the next page that gives three reasons to either o - Defend/support stem cell research . Oppose it stem cell research Assignment Worksheet . Submit the Week 2 Assignment via Blackboard by clicking on the "Week 2

Answer 1

STEM CELL

A stem cell is a cell with the unique ability to develop into specialised cell types in the body. In the future they may be used to replace cells and tissues that have been damaged or lost due to disease.

What is a stem cell?

• Our body is made up of many different types of cell^?.
• Most cells are specialised to perform particular functions, such as red blood cells^? that carry oxygen around our bodies in the blood, but they are unable to divide.
• Stem cells provide new cells for the body as it grows, and replace specialised cells that are damaged or lost. They have two unique properties that enable them to do this:
  • They can divide over and over again to produce new cells.
  • As they divide, they can change into the other types of cell that make up the body.

Stem cell more stem cells specialised cells

Different types of stem cell

• There are three main types of stem cell:
  • embryonic stem cells
  • adult stem cells
  • induced pluripotent stem cells.

Embryonic stem cells

• Embryonic stem cells supply new cells for an embryo^? as it grows and develops into a baby.
• These stem cells are said to be pluripotent, which means they can change into any cell in the body.

Adult stem cells

• Adult stem cells supply new cells as an organism grows and to replace cells that get damaged.
• Adult stem cells are said to be multipotent, which means they can only change into some cells in the body, not any cell, for example:
  • Blood (or 'haematopoietic') stem cells can only replace the various types of cells in the blood.
  • Skin (or 'epithelial') stem cells provide the different types of cells that make up our skin and hair.

Embryonic stem cells early stage embryo Adult blood stem cells bone marroW Different types of blood cells

Induced pluripotent stem cells

• Induced pluripotent stem cells, or ‘iPS cells’, are stem cells that scientists make in the laboratory.
• ‘Induced’ means that they are made in the lab by taking normal adult cells, like skin or blood cells, and reprogramming them to become stem cells.
• Just like embryonic stem cells, they are pluripotent so they can develop into any cell type.

Why are stem cells useful?

• Stem cells have several uses including:
  • research – to help us understand the basic biology of how living things work and what happens in different types of cell during disease.
  • therapy – to replace lost or damaged cells that our bodies can’t replace naturally.

Stem cell research

• Research is looking to better understand the properties of stem cells so that we can:
  • understand how our bodies grow and develop
  • find ways of using stem cells to replace cells or tissues^? that have been damaged or lost.
• We can use stem cells to study how cells become specialised for specific functions in the body, and what happens when this process goes wrong in disease.
• If we understand stem cell development, we may be able to replicate this process to create new cells, tissues and organs^?.
• We can grow tissue and organ structures from stem cells, which can then be studied to find out how they function and how they are affected by different drugs^?.

Stem cell therapy

• Cells, tissues and organs can sometimes be permanently damaged or lost by disease, injury and genetic conditions^?.
• Stem cells may be one way of generating new cells that can then be transplanted into the body to replace those that are damaged or lost.
• Adult stem cells are currently used to treat some conditions, for example:
  • Blood stem cells are used to provide a source of healthy blood cells for people with some blood conditions, such as thalassaemia, and cancer patients who have lost their own blood stem cells during treatment.
  • Skin stem cells can be used to generate new skin for people with severe burns.
• Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is an example of a disease where stem cells could be used as a new form of treatment in the future:
  • Some people with age-related macular degeneration lose their sight because cells in the retina^? of the eye called retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells stop working.
  • Scientists are using induced pluripotent stem cells to produce new RPE cells in the lab that can then be put into a patient’s eye to replace the damaged cells.

AMD patient's eye O stem cells lens RPE cells retina cells implanted into eye

Stem cells could be used to generate new organs for use in transplants:

• Currently, damaged organs can be replaced by obtaining healthy organs from a donor, however donated organs may be 'rejected' by the body as the immune system sees it as something that is foreign.
• Induced pluripotent stem cells generated from the patient themselves could be used to grow new organs that would have a lower risk of being rejected.

How do you generate induced pluripotent stem cells?

• Signals in the body tell a cell what type of specialised cell it should be by switching some genes^? on and some genes off.
• To generate induced pluripotent stem cells, scientists re-introduce the signals that normally tell stem cells to stay as stem cells in the early embryo. These switch off any genes that tell the cell to be specialised, and switch on genes that tell the cell to be a stem cell.

Current research

Stem cell research is helping scientists to understand how an organism develops from a single cell, and how healthy cells come to replace defective cells in people and animals.

Understanding cancer

Many severe medical conditions that occur in humans, such as cancer and congenital disabilities, happen because cells divide abnormally.

A better understanding of stem cells can provide insight into how these diseases arise and possible treatment options.

Regenerative medicine

Stem cells have shown promise in many areas of health, from reducing scarring on the heart to dental repair.

In June 2016, two researchers took second prize in the materials category of the United Kingdom's Royal Society of Chemistry's emerging technology competition for creating a synthetic biomaterial that stimulates stem cells native to a person's own teeth.

The researchers believe that this material will replace fillings, as the stem cells would prompt the damaged teeth to heal themselves.

Although much more research is necessary before stem cell therapies can become part of regular medical practice, the science around stem cells is developing all the time.

In almost every therapy area, doctors hope that stem cell technology will revolutionize therapeutic norms and introduce at least a new standard of personalized treatment, and maybe even self-healing bodies.

When that might happen, no one is quite ready to say.

Ethical issues(CONTROVERSY)

Historically, the use of stem cells in medical research has been controversial.

This is because when the therapeutic use of stem cells first came to the public's attention in the late 1990s, scientists were deriving human stem cells from embryos.

Many people disagree with using human embryonic cells for medical research because extracting the stem means destroying the embryo.

This creates complex issues, as people have different beliefs about what constitutes the start of human life.

For some people, life starts when a baby is born, or when an embryo develops into a fetus. Others believe that human life begins at conception, so an embryo has the same moral status and rights as a human adult or child.

President George W. Bush had strong, pro-life religious views, and he banned funding for human stem cell research in 2001.

However, President Obama's administration allowed for a partial rolling back of these research restrictions.

However, by 2006, scientists had already started using pluripotent stem cells. Scientists do not derive these stem cells from embryonic stem cells. As a result, this technique does not have the same ethical concerns.

With this and other recent advances in stem cell technology, attitudes toward stem cell research are slowly beginning to change.