1. What are stem cells?
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cells that have the ability to develop into many different cell types needed during growth and development
can divide and make more of themselves for long periods of time
are unspecialized (don’t have a specific job)
can reproduce into specialized cells (new cells that can do a specific job)

2. What are stem cells?

3. Differentiated vs. Undifferentiated
differentiated cells
cells that have a very specific structure and function
Ex: muscle cells, nerve cells, skin cells, etc.
undifferentiated cells
cells that are not programmed to have a specific structure and function
produce cells that are differentiated
Ex: stem cells

4. What are stem cells?

5. Major Types of Stem Cells
adult (somatic) stem cells
embryonic stem (ES) cells
induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells
therapeutic cloning stem cells
For all of these types, we’ll need to consider 4 important pieces of information:
What are they
Potential and/or current medical uses
Special considerations
Ethical concerns

6. Adult Stem Cells What are they also called somatic stem cells
exist naturally in many locations in all people

7. Adult Stem Cells What are they
cells that produce new differentiated cells for growth, healing, and replacing cells that are lost through daily wear and tear

8. Adult Stem Cells Potential/current medical uses
blood and bone marrow stem cells are used for blood-related treatments
growing organs on non-living tissues for transplant

9. Adult Stem Cells Special considerations are partially differentiated
EX: bone marrow stem cells can create blood cells, but they can’t create muscle cells

10. Adult Stem Cells Special considerations
can be transferred from one person to another, but without medication, they will be destroyed by the new patient’s immune system

11. Adult Stem Cells
Ethical concerns
generally are not controversial

12. Embryonic Stem (ES) Cells
What are they
cells are formed after fertilization as a normal part of embryonic development
can be isolated from an early embryo and grown in a dish

13. Embryonic Stem (ES) Cells
What are they
first isolated (grown in a dish) in Madison, WI in 1998 by Dr. James Thomson

14. Embryonic Stem (ES) Cells
Where do they embryos come from
donated by couples from fertility clinics

15. Embryonic Stem (ES) Cells
Potential/current medical uses
can become any type of cell in the body
are a promising source of cells for treating many diseases

16. Embryonic Stem (ES) Cells
Special considerations
without the help of medication, a patient's immune system will attack any implanted ES cells

17. Embryonic Stem (ES) Cells
Ethical concerns
when ES cells are created in the lab, they destroy an embryo that has the potential to develop into a baby

18. Embryonic Stem (ES) Cells
Ethical concerns
to avoid this controversy, in recent years some researchers have focused their efforts on creating stem cells that don't require the destruction of embryos

19. Embryonic Stem (ES) Cells
Ethical concerns
Besides being donated for medical research, what else happens to leftover embryos from fertility clinics?
Donating to other infertile couples
Thawing without donating

20. Embryonic Stem (ES) Cells
Ethical concerns
Besides being donated for medical research, what else happens to leftover embryos from fertility clinics?
Compassionate transfer (implanting when pregnancy would be unlikely)
Postponing the decision

21. Induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) Cells
What are they
cells created artificially in a lab by "reprogramming" a patient's own cells
can be made from readily available cells including fat and skin cells

22. Induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) Cells
Potential/current medical uses
being researched, but human iPS cells could become any cell in the body

23. Induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) Cells
Potential/current medical uses
promising source of cells for treating many diseases
no danger of immune system rejection

24. Induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) Cells
Special considerations
less expensive than therapeutic cloning
the "reprogramming" process introduces genetic changes, and the safety of using iPS cells in patients is unclear

25. Induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) Cells
Ethical concerns
because no embryos are destroyed, iPS cells are MUCH less controversial

26. Therapeutic Cloning Stem Cells
What are they
embryonic stem (ES) cells created using the patient’s own genetic material

27. Therapeutic Cloning Stem Cells
Potential/current medical uses
can, in theory, generate ES cells with the potential to become any type of cell in the body
no danger of rejection by the immune system

28. Therapeutic Cloning Stem Cells
Special considerations
in 2013, for the first time, a group of researchers used therapeutic cloning to make ES cells
the donor nucleus came from a child with a rare genetic disorder
the cloning process is difficult and expensive

29. Therapeutic Cloning Stem Cells
Ethical concerns
brings up many ethical questions
involves creating a clone of a human being and destroying the cloned embryo and it requires a human egg donor