Term Paper on "Stem Cell Research Define Stem Cell Technology"

Term Paper 16 pages (4117 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Stem Cell Research

Define Stem Cell Technology

Potential of Stem Cell Research

Future Trends

Political Spectrum

Trim Tab

Action Plan

Stem Cell Research

This report will attempt to present insights into the new technology of Stem Cell Research while also presenting views into the political spectrum surrounding the use of this new technology. Through the education of the public domain into some of the potential advantages this new technology, reports like this one may open the eyes of the skeptics and the radically closed minded individuals that could be blocking the health of our nation and man's quest for immortality. The report will describe some of the significance of and problems related to regenerative medicine and why it is this important to the future of you, me and all of mankind.

In the quest for complete health and immortality, man continues to make new strides and discoveries through the use of science and technology that may one day make immortals of us all. Today, immortality as an objective may seem far fetched for the average person in this particular life time, but consider that over the course of human history man's life expectancy has continually risen.

Individuals living complete and healthy lives well into their hundreds can no longer be considered an unusual event. The splitting of the atom, new DNA technology, and robotic prosthesis are but a few examples of man's ability to alter his future through the use of new technology.

In the high tech search to eliminate disease, disability and death, disparities among cultural or ethnic lines of reasoning have made some technologies acceptable while others have been labeled as threats to the overall well being of man. Social, political and religious debate has created a dilemma surrounding the technology of cloning for example. Man can and regularly does clone or alter the physical make up of vegetation such as corn and legumes to create super crops which may eventually feed the majority of the starving world population. Through science, man can also clone sheep, monkeys and probably any living mammal if need be.

Yet, it has been classified as wrong to clone human beings because of the associated moral dilemmas. Other alternatives to cloning have been discovered that could use regenerative medicines to eliminate disabling diseases. but, once again those technologies utilize controversially cultured embryonic tissue which upsets the moral standards of a great deal of our society. Many feel that it is wrong to pursue such technologies such as Stem Cell Research which has a potential to alter the course of human history. The concept is still only in its infancy but it may change the medical profession as we know it.

Today, five years after the shy University of Wisconsin-Madison scientist published his succinct but earthshaking paper showing that stem cells -- ephemeral, blank slate cells that occur at the earliest stages of human development -- could be isolated, cultured and grown in apparently limitless quantities, enthusiasm is tempered. The public cheerleading of Varmus and others, without a doubt, helped make stem cells a household word and set a high (and unrealistic) expectation that therapies for a host of debilitating cell-based diseases were just around the corner." (Five Years Later, Stem Cells Still Tantalize)

Introduction

This report will define and provide some current and historical insights into stem cell research and technology and how that research affects the United States social, political and religious belief structures. These belief structures will affect all of Stem Cell technology's future uses including funding from both governmental and private sources, current and future regulatory initiatives, religious and social ethics, licensing and partnerships from support technologies, definition of research facilities and cost structures while also forming new oppositions in the form of opinions from different national entities or sovereignties. The objective of the newly discovered industry will be to create therapeutic medicinal arenas that generate revenue while the big picture of stem cell therapy remains in the infancy and developmental stages of the business cycle.

Stem cell research and the accompanying technologies continue to make headlines. Potentially, this new area of medicine may change the entire spectrum of life and health as we know it today. The financial potential is also enormous. Since embryonic stem cells were originally isolated in 1998 at the University of Wisconsin, new and complementary technologies affecting stem cells continue to become as prominent as the original discovery and the potential of the technology is now being appreciated by executives, investors, venture capitalists, and business development managers and analysts who work in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology areas of the scientific community.

Both new and existing companies, educational and healthcare systems and even whole nations are hoping to be responsible for the next great Stem Cell related breakthrough that could propel stem cell technology and cell and tissue culture media technology from the world of potential cure to cure all in the daily routines of the global healthcare system. Whole nations such as France, Italy and Spain are changing their approaches to work more like entrepreneurial states that compete directly with individual companies. The quest for the coveted position of leader in regard to stem cell therapy as a regenerative medicine requires investments of large sums of capitol which in return could help the winner obtain the commercial rights for the environmental factors needed to develop the cell lines. With such strong entrepreneurial and international support, stem cell research on a global scale is a viable technology that is here to stay. But in the United States, social and moral issues may keep the entrepreneurial atmosphere to a minimum.

Define Stem Cell Technology

The overall concept of stem cell regenerative technology sounds much more complex than the philosophies behind the technology actually are. The objective of stem cell research is to replace broken, burned or otherwise damaged cell tissue with replacement cells. Today, scientists are working feverishly to discover how our bodies utilize cells that function in their own specialized tasks. The intention for scientists then will be to create cells outside of the body that can duplicate those specialized tasks. Once a cell's intentions and purpose for the body can be duplicated, these new cells can then be directed to replace any particular type of broken or damaged cell tissue or missing all together.

The bulk of the technology controversy surrounds the fact that human embryonic stem cells can only be created through the use of fully fertilized human embryos that are less than one-week-old. "Using 14 blastocysts obtained from donated, surplus embryos produced by in vitro fertilization, a group of UW-Madison developmental biologists led by James Thomson established five independent stem cell lines in November 1998. This was the first time human embryonic stem cells had been successfully isolated and cultured." (Five Years Later, Stem Cells Still Tantalize)

These original cell lines were manipulated and eventually developed into specific cell types such as muscle and cartilage cells. The stem cell technology research was actually an accidental discovery that came out of in vitro fertilization. The original undifferentiated cells were obtained from couples who had lost interest in their in vitro fertilization efforts and therefore signed releases of the fertilized eggs. Prior to the breakthrough discovery, the standard practice of almost every in vitro fertilization clinic throughout the world was to simply discard the any surplus embryos when no longer needed.

Although this breakthrough in human regenerative research is still in its infancy, the potential is far reaching and additional study is underway. As of yet, there are no practical applications utilizing what is currently known about stem cell regenerative technology.

However, scientists are positive that this new way of regenerating cells has the potential to treat or completely cure diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, spinal cord injuries and burns. "For example, islet cells control insulin production in the pancreas, which is disrupted in people with diabetes. If an individual with diabetes is to be cured, the stem cells used for treatment must develop into new insulin-producing islet cells, not heart tissue or other cells. Research is required to determine how to control the differentiation of stem cells so they will be therapeutically effective. Research is also necessary to study the potential of immune rejection of the cells, and how to overcome that problem." (Five Years Later, Stem Cells Still Tantalize)

Stem cell technology uses embryonic stem cells. These embryonic stem cells are at the forefront of the concern by human rights activists, politicians and religious authorities to name but a few. In the medical community, once the potential of embryonic stem cells was understood, they created enormous interest in the biotechnological environments because stem cells have the ability to become any cell in a human body.

In theory, since stem cells can be grown in cultures, it is now possible to grow specific types of cells such as bone marrow. The key though is that these embryonic stem cells are cells that are undifferentiated. In other words, embryonic stem cells… READ MORE

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