Your Inner Healers Article

iPSC (induced pluripotency stem cells) - stem cells produced from regular cells of an organism

• Shinya Yamanaka of University of Kyoto (2006) revealed their formula for creating the iPSC. 
• Scientists are working to develop this in order to gain more understanding on diseases that have evaded cures (diabetes 1, alzheimer's, parkinson's). 
• The ability of being able to change a cell's identity is revolutionizing the way scientists look at human development. 
• Although sophistication of technology has not yet reached the ability for humans to theoretically become immortal, it is a possibility that may ignite more ethical issues that embryonic stem cells.

Primordial Power

• differentiation: when cells become less versatile and more specialized as time goes on. (mammal)
• embryonic stem cells have the ability to become 220 different cell types. 
• multipotent: cells which can only develop into specific families of cells types (muscle/bone)
• adult "stem cells" just replace mature cells within a tissue. 
• cells do not revert back to more primitive cell (in mammals) with the exception of cancer. 
• cellular reprogramming: tricks mature cell to act as an embryonic cell. (cell nuclear transfer "cloning")
• cloning: injecting adult cell into egg cell who's genetic material has been removed. 
• attempts to create embryonic cells from human clone cells have failed. 
• nuclear transfer looked into as possible way for replacing damaged cells/tissue. 
• Yamanaka introduced genes normally active only in embryos into adult cells. 
• introduced gene with retroviruses -> cell reprogrammed into pluripotent cell 
• can avoid ethical and legal contraints

Identity Crisis

• iPSC may look like embryonic stem cells and display molecular markers associated with pluripotent cells. 
• pluripotency of a cell: ability of stem cells to produce a wide variety of body cell types in a petri dish, ability to produce teratoma (tumor containing cells from embryonic tissue lineages) when injected under skin of mouse, and capacity (when injected in mouse embryo) to contribute to development of tissue lineages. embryonic stem cells usually pass test, iPSC do not. 
• viruses developing programming genes usually are not properly shut off. Important genes are not properly turned on. 
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