I already did this damn thing
Stem Cell Research Can you imagine a world free of diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, heart and lung disease, and spinal cord injuries? Although embryonic stem cell research is only in its infancy, it has the enormous potential to make this a reality. Some know them as “magic seeds” for their incredible ability to replicate indefinitely and morph into any type of tissue. Taken from human embryos only days old, stem cells are nature’s blank slates, capable of developing into any of the nearly 220 cell types that make up the human body. Scientists believe they will lead to the treatment or cure of almost all diseases. The controversy begins at the source—the human embryos that must be destroyed to retrieve stem cells. Some find it is ridiculous and inhumane to destroy human embryos for the sake of someone else. Others feel it is necessary to grow stem cells for the sake of human development and to revolutionize medicine. There are many technical hurdles between the promise of stem cells, and they will only be overcome by continued intensive stem cell research. The potential benefits of this research adds a whole new horizon to the medical world. Embryonic stem cells are derived from embryos. Specifically, embryonic stem cells are evolved from embryos that develop from eggs that have been fertilized in vitro — fertilization accomplished outside the body in an artificial environment — and then donated for research purposes with informed consent of the donors. They are not derived from eggs fertilized in a woman’s body. In the first step of the stem cell process an egg is fertilized or cloned to from an embryo. Human embryonic stem cells are isolated by transferring the inner cell mass into a plastic laboratory culture dish that contains a nutrient broth known as culture medium. The embryo then divides again and again and takes shape as a sphere called a blastocyst — a preimplantation embryo of about 150 cells. As the cells divide, they spread over the surface of the dish. Over the course of several days, the cells of the inner cell mass proliferate and begin to crowd the culture dish. When this occurs, they are removed gently and plated into several fresh culture dishes. The process of replating the cells is repeated many times and for many months. After six months or more, the original 30 cells of the inner cell mass yield millions of embryonic stem cells.