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Scientists Move Closer to Human Therapeutic Cloning
Journal written by stemceller (975823) and posted by
samzenpus
on Wed Jun 20, 2007 10:11 PM
from the send-the-therapeutic-you-to-work-day dept.
from the send-the-therapeutic-you-to-work-day dept.
"Human therapeutic cloning has moved a step closer after U.S. researchers said they had successfully created embryonic stem cells from monkey embryos. Scientists told a stem cell research conference in Cairns this week that they had successfully created two batches of embryonic stem cells from cloned rhesus monkey embryos."
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Which is worse (Score:2, Funny)
A) Human stem cells taken from humans
B) Human stem cells taken from cloned monkeys
C) Yes
I'm guessing that they're going to go with C
Mostly because I can't imagine they'll like cloned monkeys
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Of course, they'll likely decide this is the work of satan because it could maybe lend credence to "evilution".
The *real* problem here is religion.
"There can be but little liberty on earth while men worship a tyrant in heaven."- Robert Green Ingersoll
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Pun intended.
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Re:Which is worse (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, that is not the case. It's the destruction of a blastocyst, which is a compilation of 70-150 cells. These are often thrown out/discarded in fertility clinics. They are definitely not human. Here's a picture of one,
http://www.iscr.ed.ac.uk/outreach/images/Human-bl
Parent
Re:Which is worse (Score:4, Funny)
That little glob could be the next OJ Simpson, or Professor Snape!
If that is a human, than I think I may have just picked a human out of my nose this morning. Now I am going to find it, and call it Freddie.
Every sperm is sacred! Save me Jebus!
Parent
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Keep in mind (Score:5, Informative)
Cell workings differ slightly between species. Different proteins may be present, etc.
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They have used 'emptied' egg cells and injected 'adult' nuclei. The young, messed-up embryos that resulted were dissected (split clump of cells into individual cells) and they were able to recover viable 'embryonic' stem cell lines which have totipotency and near immortality, in terms of continued cell division.
The importance of this is important because (a) it is the first primate example and (b) it is from an adult nucleus. In the former, p
Therapeutic? (Score:3, Funny)
WTF is that supposed to mean?
You're cloning yourself... to feel better?
If you don't feel good, why clone yourself?
Re:Therapeutic? (Score:5, Funny)
To have someone to share the misery with?
Parent
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's cheaper than therapeutic cloning, I'd imagine.
Therapeutic.. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Therapeutic? (Score:4, Insightful)
In real life there are more issues (not withstanding the moral issues if the clone is allowed to develop a brain). For instance, we are not purely a product of our genes. Otherwise identical twins would look identical until the moment they both suffered a heart attack and died. If you need a solid organ, it needs to be grown in a viable host. It's likely impossible using current (or near-future) technology to create a viable host that does not have brain activity.
Parent
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Sadly, the monkey clone cells (Score:2, Funny)
can only be used by Monkey boy Steve Ballmer [google.com].
It may one day be possible to do this with human beings. Until then animal testing is in order.
No WONDER they were having trouble! (Score:4, Insightful)
So for years the scientists have been finding the chromosomes to transplant by:
- Flooding the donor cell with a fluorescent dye that bonds to DNA, then
- Shining ultraviolet light (i.e. ionizing radiation) on the cell, causing the dye to fluoresce (and also dump enough energy into the DNA molecule to break molecular bonds and produce free radicals in the nearby area).
And then they wondered why, after they transplanted this DNA into the denucleated egg, the resulting cell didn't work right.
Good grief!
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modern society are a bit like machine, each individual have a very specific task to perform and are groomed for that task from a very early age. if everyone with knowhow about said ta
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Just Wait till It Becomes Profitable (Score:5, Interesting)
It's all going to start when someone figures out how to clone men but with giant penises, for easy transplant. Why compete over cars, houses, plots of land and computer upgrades when you can just go buy the real deal? In America, EVERY MAN will be a porn star. There will be billions of dollars made there.
From there, we'll get on to using human skin and hair for clothing, and human bones as a proxy for ivory. At first, it will be a status symbol. You really could have a lampshade made out of human skin, or even a football for junior or a jacket for the mrs. But soon, with enough venture capital, human clones will be mass produced and harvested like so many sheep, and even more billions will be made.
Eventually, there will be, within the USA alone, a 200 billion dollar a year industry dedicated to the production, harvest, and manufacturing goods based on harvested clones. At that point, just as you once saw liberals hail the progress of animal antibiotics and industrial farming and then turn to an imaginary better day of all natural organic everything, you'll see liberals lamenting the devaluation of the human body, whereas, conservatives will merely say they are free and supporting consumer demand. Then liberals will eventually say the masses are stupid for supporting a human cloning industry and demand federal action to slow it down or stop it, write thousands of books decrying it, and support an endlessly array of Democratic candidates that promise to reform it but never really do. In the meantime, conservatives will argue the cloning is natural, its our right to do so, and its part of God's plan anyway, and to support their position, they will dredge up every last salamder that can regrow its own tail, every asexually produced thing in nature, and every supporting phrase in the bible. Oh yes, Jesus was very much in favor of harvesting clones, if you know which 4 passages to read.
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Cloning for parts will not be done by growing a whole new organism and hacking off whatever the originator wants. That would be an abomination that anyone of any political orientation could recognize. What will be done is that (non-embrionic) cells will be encouraged to grow the appropriate tissues or organs, without developing a nervous system. With this sort of technology, only some of the religious nut cases will still insist that a being w
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As for the porn star penis. Personally I'll stick with mine, I don't need some 12 foot dick only good for breaking coconuts in half with, any guy who isn't a complete ignorant fuck knows t
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$$$$tem $ell$ (Score:3, Interesting)
But seriously, most people are superficial, and once stem cells show the ability outperform Botox, plastic surgery, RetinA, monoxidil, Oil of Olay, l'Oreal cosmetics, Ben Gay, etc, then you won't be able to beat the customers off with a stick. (Or even with a big penis to slap them with)
Women are more insecure about their looks than men. They will kill to get that youthful teenage wrinkle-free skin. They will go to back-alley a
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Embryonic stem cells don't come from abortions, let alone back-alley ones. Scientists harvest them from a few day old zygotes, and you can't perform an abortion only a couple of days after conception. Stem cells come from embryos made in a lab, either specifically for that purpose or excess from fertility treatments that would otherwise be thrown away.
Embryonic stem cell research has nothing to do with abortion. T
Let's get serious, (Score:4, Informative)
Granted, most of these links are preliminary- check those deep databases, like over at PubMed Central, for those detailed reviews of the state of the art. And just for kicks, one last link [bioinformatics.org] which (still) impresses me.
Bush's Braincells (Score:3, Interesting)
Of course, he'll get any he wants, from some other country if that's necessary.
an even better current quote (Score:4, Insightful)
President Bush has used his veto to kill another bill that would have lifted some of the restrictions on research using human embryonic stem cells.
The news has been greeted with dismay, but not surprise, by the scientific community.
In announcing his use of the veto, Bush told reporters: "Destroying human life in the hopes of saving human life is not ethical."
Um, hello George...presumably it's OK if it's for oil?
Parent
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http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/06/0 6/1924232 [slashdot.org]
The summary says they can't be safely used for transplant, but then, the day before they discovered that, they thought it couldn't be done at all. Given time, we'll we creating stem cells as-needed from patients in surgery, and in a short time later, use them to replace the damaged area. Skin grafts will become amazingly easy, and replacing a
Whew!! (Score:4, Funny)
When the Labcoats attack you, prepare to fling the poo,
Monkey see...Monkey do(doo)!
Therapeutic? I want a lover! (Score:3, Funny)
Of my own flesh and bone
With its Y-chromosome changed to X
And when it is grown
Then my own little clone
Will be of the opposite sex.
(Chorus)
Clone, clone of my own,
With your Y-Chromosome changed to X
And when I'm alone
With my own little clone
We will both think of nothing but sex.
Now can anyone accelerate the aging process? By the time she's 18 I could be dead.
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Talk about inbreeding.
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Therapeutic.....? (Score:2, Funny)
Now *THAT* would be therapeutic!
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Humans from Apes ? (Score:2)
I see this as an area of decreasing concern (Score:2, Interesting)
I have also found it interesting that embryonic stem cells, apparently, can be taken from umbilical cords and placental cells. Why is this ignored in research (or is it a case of a percentage of resear
Stretch of an obligatory Futurama reference. (Score:2)
Which would you prefer? (Score:2, Interesting)
OR
Some on rejecting the right to create life for the entire purpose of destroying it, and some doctors doing it anyways?
Either way, creating life for the sake of destroying it is not moral, in my opinion. I'm not religious in any case, as I'm not a "believer", but as a father of two boys, and a person with respect to choice as well as life, I couldn't give something like this the go-ahead.
A woman getting pregnant and choosing
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Parasites? Other life..etc.
because there's no wrong way... (Score:2, Funny)
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Posts like the one above always make me laugh because the poster always assumes they are part of the strong, smart, or whatever desired characteristic. Take your timeline back 1000 years, maybe your current traits would have been selected against.
Have you ever gotten sick and taken an antibiotic, required stitches, or maybe have a broken bone