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B1 page 16 (embryotic stem cells can turn into any type of cell…
B1 page 16
embryotic stem cells can turn into any type of cell
differentiation is the process by which a cell changes to become specialised for its job
undifferentiated cells, called stem cells, can divide to produce lots more undifferentiated cells. they can differentiate into different types of cell, depending on what instructions they are given.
stem cells are found in early human embryos. they are exciting to doctors and medical researchers because they have they have the potential to turn into any kind of cell at all. this is proved by the fact that all the different cells in the human body came from those few cells in the early embryo
adults also have stem cells but they are only found in certain places, like bone marrow. unlike embryotic stem cells, they cant turn into any cell type at all, only certain ones such as blood cells
stem cells from embryos and bone marrow can be grown in a la to produce clones (genetically identical cells) and made to differentiate into specialised cells to use in medicine or research
stem cells can produce identical plants
throughout the plants entire life, cells in the meristem tissues can differentiate into any type of plant cell
in plants stem cells are found in the meristems (parts of the plant where growth occurs)
these stem cells can be used to produce clones (identical copies) of whole plants quickly and cheaply
they can be used to grow more plants of rare species to prevent them being wiped out.
stem cells can also be used to grow crops of identical plants that have desired features for farmers, for example disease resistance
stem cells may be able to cure diseases
medicine already uses adult stem cells to cure disease, for example, stem cells transferred from the bone marrow of a healthy person can replace faulty blood cells in the patient who receives them
embryotic stem cells could also be used to replace faulty cells in sick people, for example, you could make insulin-producing cells for people with diabetes or nerve cells for people paralysed by spinal injuries
in therapeutic cloning, an embryo could be made to have the same genetic information as the patient. this means that the stem cells produced from it would also contain the same genes and so wouldn't be rejected by the patients body if used to replace faulty cells
there are risks of using stem cells in medicine, for example, stem cells grown in the lab may become contaminated with a virus which could be passed on to the patient and so make them sick
some people argue against stem cell research
others think that curing existing patients who are suffering is more important than the rights of embryos
one fairly convincing argument in favour of this point of view is that the embryos used in research are usually unwanted ones from fertility clinics which, if they weren't used for research, would probably just be destroyed. but of course campaigners for the rights of embryos usually want this banned too
these campaigners feel like scientists should concentrate on finding and developing other sources of stem cells, so people could be helped without having to use embryos
in some countries stem cell research is banned, however, it is allowed in the UK as long as it follows strict guidelines
some people are against stem cell research because they feel that human embryos shouldn't be used for experiments since each one is a potential life