Stem Cells

Stem cells are cells that come from stems in flowers; this was my original conception of stem cells. The definition of a stem cell according to the Webster Merriam Dictionary is that a stem cell is "an undifferentiated cell of a multicellular organism that is capable of giving rise to indefinitely more cells of the same type, and from which certain other kinds of cell arise by differentiation". In simpler terms, a cell that has no specific purpose or structure that a regular cell would have such as a muscle or blood cell. This would mean that because stem cells do not have a specific structure they have the potential to become any type of cell in your body. Stem cells are capable of being made different or changed into any other type of cell and replace old cells over time.

These specific types of stem cells that is currently used for cloning cells and that were talked about in the videos were the embryonic stem cells. Those come from embryos that are donated usually by patients or that were left over and are used to make personalized medicine. Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent, which means that they can change into any kind of cell in the human body. One of the controversies was that the embryonic stem cells could be used for cloning. This is why some people believe that scientists should not be allowed to make personalized medicine.

To clone a cell, scientists would take an egg from a woman's ovary and extract the DNA in it. In a process called nuclear transfer, scientists take another cell's DNA from a part of a patient's body and put it in the egg. In personalized medicine, scientists put the patients DNA in the egg. They fertilize the egg with some chemicals and the egg will start to divide. In a short period of time, th...

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...nt. Scientists use and change them to behave like embryonic stem cells. These I think that stem cells should be used to help patients recover, create new tissue, heal your body, and understand how the body works. Some scientists look at the stem cells changing into tissue to find out how the mechanisms in the stem cell work. With more research and development humans could create personalized medicine to a specific person's body. Some people consider personalized medicine to be wrong but I disagree with that statement. I think this is a revolutionary solution to diseases and early treatment cures.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Kohn, Craig A. "What Are Stem Cells." YouTube. Ted-Ed, 10 Sept. 2013. Web. 03 Apr. 2014. .

SciShow. "Stem Cells." YouTube. SciShow, 30 Apr. 2013. Web. 03 Apr. 2014. .