New Stem Cell Research Breakthrough

Hey all,

Apparently this new breakthrough could revolutionize medical science. 2 groups of scientists have managed to reprogram cells to copy stem cells. What this means is that scientists could potentially make these cells into any tissue they want in the body.

This also means that these cells could potentially lead to a halt in stem cell research which is a very controversial stubject as I am sure you are all aware. The two groups responsible, One from Japan and one from the US have managed to create these cells which mimic stem cells in two similar ways.

This should lead to a large increase in this field of research because these cells are appatrently much easier to create and of course are not limited by the fact that stem cells are difficult to obtain and manage.

The potential goes even further in that the cells could be taken from the patient which would mean significantly less chance of rejection with the "grown tissue" for whatever part of the body they may need. This also opens up the doors for better disease research.

What do you all think of this? I for one am for Stem cell research and always have been, I do not believe it is unethical to use them for the purpose of furthering science and research. This throws all that completly out the window though because now they can produce cells that mimic stem cells but are not in fact stem cells, Removing the moral problems many have with this type of research.

For more information please check out:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7101834.stm

cheers,

Z

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