Reclusive Stem Cell Researcher Profiled

joesao writes: "The NYTimes is profiling Dr. James Thomson, a reclusive Winsconsin researcher who was the first person to isolate human stem cells from embryos. The article outlines a few of the issues surrounding the stem cell research controversy, and of course, it's more acceptable counterpart, adult stem cell research. Why is this such an ethically-laden topic? I can understand why religious groups are so uptight about this, but don't the benefits greatly outweigh the burden of destroying the bundle of cells we call 'embryo'?"

New sources of stem cells

[greesil]

I think it is the latest issue of SciAm that mentions something about extracting stem cell tissue from cadavers, which would finally get them darned yappity ethics people to cram it.

Meanwhile, back at the bat cave... er... the whitehouse, El Shrubo is will decide if the federal government will fund this sort of thing.

"I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal labotomy --

Adult vs. Embryonic Stem Cells

[Guppy]

This is slightly off-topic, but I just wanted to make a comment on articles dealing with the potential of adult stem cells, such as those harvested from fat tissue, cadavers, etc.

Such reports are frequently held up by opponents of embryonic cell research, by providing an arguement that we could have all the benefits without any of the the cost, and that research could continue as is even in the presence of a embryonic cell ban.

Unfortunately, adult stem cells are more likely to provoke an immune reaction. Many are capable of only a few divisions while those that are not limited are frequently cancerous or abnormal.

Another problem is that while a stem cell may differentiate into something that looks like, say, a muscle or nerve cell, it is very difficult to say that it actually is identical to that cell type, and in many cases it isn't. This could be more of a problem with adult cells than with embryonic ones.

I've coached all my terms in maybes and sometimes, reason being that the field is just simply so young that there is little complete certainty anywhere. The biggest problem is that the process of differentiation is poorly understood, and an important part of researching that involves taking apart embryos to see how it happens in the normal process of turning an amorphous blob of cells into a highly structured human being.

To suggest that research be performed on adult cells is redundant. It already happening, and is a topic of great interest. The problem is, information flows back and forth between the embryonic and adult stem cell groups, and to ban one camp simultaneously cripples the other.