Summary:
Since Dolly the sheep was cloned from a mammary cell, scientists have now applied the same technique to make the first embryonic-stem-cells lines from human cells. When Dolly was cloned, questions came up wondering if humans could also become cloned. Many species have been cloned using nuclear transfer, a technique that involves inserting the nucleus of one cell into an egg, whose own nucleus has been removed. Shoukhrat Mitalipov, a professor at Oregon Health and Science University and his colleagues have reportedly said to successfully reprogram human skin cells back to their embryonic state. Mitalipov took cells from the skin of fetuses and inserted them into an egg, which then manipulated the egg to start dividing. After several days, the result was a blanket of embryonic stem cells with the genetic material of the donor skin. This process can't generate a human clone, but it can create embryonic stem cells which could be manipulated to create heart or nerves cells that could repair or treat diseases. Mitalipov and his group are now working on a way to use this technique to treat mitochondrial diseases.
Relevance:
This article relates to our cell unit in the curriculum. The article talks about human stem cells which could grow in the laboratory and turn into nerve, heart, or other body cells. This relates to Cell Theory because it states that all things are made up of cells and all cells come from preexisting cells. The human body is made up of cells and the different cells in the body come from stem cells. We also learned two different ways of cell reproduction. There are asexual and sexual reproduction. Asexual is reproduction involving one cell, while sexual reproduction is with two cells. Human stem cells normally go through sexual reproduction, but with this discovery that human stem cells can be cloned by using nuclear transfer technique, which is a form of asexual reproduction.
Author: Alice Park
Date of Publication: May 15, 2013
Link:
http://healthland.time.com/2013/05/15/first-success-in-using-human-egg-to-reprogram-cells-back-to-embryonic-state/
By Kaitlyn Li
Since Dolly the sheep was cloned from a mammary cell, scientists have now applied the same technique to make the first embryonic-stem-cells lines from human cells. When Dolly was cloned, questions came up wondering if humans could also become cloned. Many species have been cloned using nuclear transfer, a technique that involves inserting the nucleus of one cell into an egg, whose own nucleus has been removed. Shoukhrat Mitalipov, a professor at Oregon Health and Science University and his colleagues have reportedly said to successfully reprogram human skin cells back to their embryonic state. Mitalipov took cells from the skin of fetuses and inserted them into an egg, which then manipulated the egg to start dividing. After several days, the result was a blanket of embryonic stem cells with the genetic material of the donor skin. This process can't generate a human clone, but it can create embryonic stem cells which could be manipulated to create heart or nerves cells that could repair or treat diseases. Mitalipov and his group are now working on a way to use this technique to treat mitochondrial diseases.
Relevance:
This article relates to our cell unit in the curriculum. The article talks about human stem cells which could grow in the laboratory and turn into nerve, heart, or other body cells. This relates to Cell Theory because it states that all things are made up of cells and all cells come from preexisting cells. The human body is made up of cells and the different cells in the body come from stem cells. We also learned two different ways of cell reproduction. There are asexual and sexual reproduction. Asexual is reproduction involving one cell, while sexual reproduction is with two cells. Human stem cells normally go through sexual reproduction, but with this discovery that human stem cells can be cloned by using nuclear transfer technique, which is a form of asexual reproduction.
Author: Alice Park
Date of Publication: May 15, 2013
Link:
http://healthland.time.com/2013/05/15/first-success-in-using-human-egg-to-reprogram-cells-back-to-embryonic-state/
By Kaitlyn Li
What kind of diseases can embryonic stem cells treat? and how do mitochondrial diseases affect the body?
ReplyDeleteMany scientist believe that embryonic stem cells may help in treating or even curing heart disease, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and type 1 diabetes. This is still in research.
ReplyDeleteMitochondrial diseases affect the lungs, heart, brains, and muscles, the parts that need the most energy in the body. This can then cause other things like strokes or seizures or heart problems, etc.
Why could a sheep be cloned, but not a human?
ReplyDelete