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Exfoliating is murder
Szechuanosaurus
Registered User, ClubPA regular
Registered User, ClubPA regular
Skin transformed into stem cells
Cell created by Japanese team
Japanese researchers created pluripotent cells
Human skin cells have been reprogrammed by two groups of scientists to mimic embryonic stem cells with the potential to become any tissue in the body.
The breakthrough promises a plentiful new source of cells for use in research into new treatments for many diseases.
Crucially, it could mean that such research is no longer dependent on using cells from human embryos, which has proved highly controversial.
The US and Japanese studies feature in the journals Science and Cell.
"The induced cells do all the things embryonic stem cells do - its going to completely change the field"
Professor James Thomson
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Until now only cells taken from embryos were thought to have an unlimited capacity to become any of the 220 types of cell in the human body - a so-called pluripotent state.
But campaigners have objected to their use on the grounds that it is unethical to destroy embryos in the name of science.
In the US only limited use of embryonic stem cells is allowed by scientists receiving public funding.
The Japanese team used a chemical cocktail containing just four gene-controlling proteins to transform adult human fibroblasts - skin cells that are easy to obtain and grow in culture - into a pluripotent state.
"For once we have better science coinciding with better ethics"
Josephine Quintavalle
Comment on Reproductive Ethics
The cells created were similar, but not identical, to embryonic stem cells, and the researchers used them to produce brain and heart tissue.
After 12 days in the laboratory clumps of cells grown to mimic heart muscle tissue started beating.
The US team, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, achieved the same effect by using a slightly different combination of chemicals.
They have created eight new stem cell lines for potential use in research.
Cloning superceded
Using skin cells should mean that treatments could be personalised for individual patients, minimising the risk of rejection.
"Although it is early days for this technique it may well prove to be every bit as significant as the first derivation of human embryonic stem cells nine years ago"
Dr Lyle Armstrong
University of Newcastle Upon Tyne
Not only does the new technique remove the need to create embryos in the lab, it is also more simple, and more precisely controlled than current cloning technology.
Professor Ian Wilmut, of the University of Edinburgh, who led the team which created Dolly the sheep in 1996, has said it represents a significant advance.
However, the researchers have warned more work is needed to refine the process, and ensure its safety.
At present both techniques rely on viruses to introduce new material into the cells, which carries a potential risk of contamination.
Researcher Professor James Thomson said: "The induced cells do all the things embryonic stem cells do.
"It's going to completely change the field."
Dr Shinya Yamanaka, of Kyoto University, a member of the Japanese research team, said: "These cells should be extremely useful in understanding disease mechanisms and screening effective and safe drugs."
Positive reaction
Professor Azim Surani, of the University of Cambridge, said the research should allow scientists to create a large range of human stem cell types, which could prove invaluable in studying disease.
He said: "It is relatively easy to grow an entire plant from a small cutting, something that seems inconceivable in humans.
"Yet this study brings us tantalisingly close to using skin cells to grow many different types of human tissues.
Dr Lyle Armstrong, of the International Centre For Life at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, called the studies a "major development".
He said: "Although it is early days for this technique it may well prove to be every bit as significant as the first derivation of human embryonic stem cells nine years ago."
Professor Robin Lovell-Badge, of the Medical Research Council's National Institute For Medical Research, said the work was exciting, but work was required to end the reliance on viruses, and to tease out why two different techniques produced similar results.
Josephine Quintavalle, of Comment on Reproductive Ethics, said: "News that embryonic stem cells can be created successfully from human cells without cloning, without using human embryos or human eggs, or without getting involved in the creation of animal-human embryos, is most warmly welcomed.
"We congratulate these world-class scientists who have had the courage to state their change of tack so cogently.
"For once we have better science coinciding with better ethics."
TECHNIQUES FOR MAKING 'STEM CELLS'
- Therapeutic cloning produces stem cells which can develop into different types of body cell, making them ideal for research into treatment of disease.
- But this technology involves the creation and destruction of embryos, which is ethically controversial. The stem cells created also run the risk of being rejected by the body.
- The new technology, nuclear reprogramming, creates stem-like cells from the patient's own cells, avoiding both these problems.
Bullshit
If skin cells can be converted into stem cells then they have "the potential for life" ergo exfoliating is now murder. Good going science, now we all have to have shitty skin and it's all your fault.
Szechuanosaurus on
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Posts
Man, exfoliating is for girls.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/registry/wishlist/1A4GKH199FBMU/ - My wishlist
Murderous girls.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
I hate idiots like this bitch.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
steam
It is probably pretty old, it was on BBC news this morning and they are always at least a year behind science journals. Plus, they were talking about it because the Dolly the Sheep guy has jumped on the bandwagon and I think these Japanese dudes were doing it for a while already. Hang on.
Original articles, Nov 2007
UK/Cananda LTTP by 17 months
Don't forget the Russian scientists we helped escape the Soviet system. They helped too, not just the krauts.
Secret Satan 2013 Wishlist
Edit: Okay so, I just realized that I'm limited to human cell structures. You can call me Mme. Lunghand.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
Those guys knew how to get their abomination on.
Secret Satan 2013 Wishlist
You can turn your hand into any object, so long as it is another part of the human anatomy.
Obscenity ensues.
It's only on page 1. Give it time to bed in and find itself.
The only problem will be controlling the ability. No one wants a hand full o' wangs or boobs or something when they're at a job interview.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
I dunno, that might not necessarily work to your disadvantage...
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
Break into a research lab and fall into a big vat of embryos, Obelix-style.
Hey, stupid.
The objection isn't that stem cells are people, but that they come from embryos.
Now that they can be made out of normal cells, we can bring Christopher Reeve back to life and cure CF or whatever retarded tag line is being used these days.
I'm just going to go trolling for embryo vats downtown. Dr. Dickface Boobhands, here I come! (I like this name because it also implies that I have gotten my doctorate.)
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
I don't see how you could object to something lifesaving coming from an embryo unless you thought it was somehow harming a human life.
XBL
Nobody is really going to question the Dr. when your first and second name raise so much more interesting questions anyway.
I guess you could make a consent argument - we can't harvest organs, marrow, etc from dead people without their consent - which embryos are unable to provide.
For me personally, I think that requiring a dead person's consent to harvest their organs is superfluous. Needing the consent of the surviving family members makes more sense to me.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
That's easily the worst argument I've ever heard.
For anything.
Seriously. 'Harvesting embryos is wrong just because ok?!?' would have been a better argument.
it's not like they're gonna use 'em
DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND
XBL
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
They are trying to make organ donations an opt out scheme in the UK. As in, if you don't want your organs harvested when you die you specifically have to make the effort to let people know, otherwise yoink!
I'm all for it, personally. Why not?
Yeah that seems like a reasonable summary.
It's a moot point anyway, now science can go solve all those diseases and make people in wheelchairs walk without religion standing in the way.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN