A Glimpse into the World of Human Genetics

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There are more than 25,000 genes in the nucleus of each cell in the typical adult human body. The DNA strands in the 10 trillion cells all combined would be long enough to stretch from the earth to the sun more than 100 times (National Human Genome Research Institute). Yet, just one mutation or problem in just one of those genes can cause something as benign as turning brown eyes to blue or something as serious as a deadly case of cancer. The science of genetics is precise and complicated, yet it could very well be the future of human medicine. Stem cell research, genetic counseling, and gene therapy are just some of the more prominent players in the arena that is the science of the human genome. Stem cell therapy is the use of pluripotent stem cells in health care to heal organs and tissues. A cell’s pluripotency is determined by it’s ability to differentiate into other kinds of cells, such as cardiac, skeletal, or nerve (Waldron). Scientists and researchers primarily work with the following types of stem cells: embryonic, mesenchymal, and induced pluripotent. Embryonic was used in some of the first stem cell research due to it being readily available. Early research of embryonic stem cells showed that they was not only very pluripotent, having been used in experiment when they differentiated into blood, cardiac, and skeletal muscle cells. The differentiation of the stem cells into muscle cells was considered to be a milestone as it showed researchers the vast pluripotency of the embryonic stem cells. Skeletal muscles cells were hard to obtain in previous experiments and tests, as they are more complex, and were less understood than cells of simpler tissues, which was significant in showing the diversity of these stem cells. Wh... ... middle of paper ... ...2 Feb. 2014. Web. 4 Mar. 2014. Ormond, D. Ryan, Craig Shannon, Julius Oppenheim, Richard Zeman, Kaushik Das, Raj Murali, and Meena Jhanwar-Uniyal. Stem Cell Therapy and Curcumin Synergistically Enhance Recovery from Spinal Cord Injury. PLOS One. PLOS One, 18 Feb. 2014. Web. 6 Mar. 2014. Ormond, Kelly E. "The Family History and Risk Assessment." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 11 Nov. 2013. Web. 9 Mar. 2014. Steenhuysen, Julie. "The Dawning of the Age of Genomic Medicine, Finally." Medscape Medical News. Medscape, 10 Mar. 2014. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. Waldron, Patricia. “Stem Cell Creation: Removing the Brakes.” Today's Science.Infobase Learning, Nov. 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. Zimmerman, Ron. "Genetic Code Unlocking Future of Medicine, Craig Venter Says." Medscape Medical News. Medscape, 10 Mar. 2014. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.

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