• Question: What is Stem Cell????

    Asked by djdevbo96 to Aime, Akshat, Diana, Gemma, Judith on 18 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by wario5000.
    • Photo: Judith McCann

      Judith McCann answered on 18 Jun 2011:

      Basically stem cells are cells with potential to turn into other types of cells. The kinds of cell that the stem cells can turn into depends on the kind of stem cell.

      The stem cells in embryos(fertilised eggs) have the potential to become all the cell in the body-so that the different parts of your body can develop from these cells e.g brain cells,skin cells,nerve cells etc. But there are stem cells all over, these have the potential to become only one or two kinds of cells, like liver stem cells. These are used to regenerat the liver when it’s damaged.

      There’s some speculation in the science world that all tissue types have stem cells to help in the bodies healing! It’s not proven though,something to look forward to!

    • Photo: Gemma Sharp

      Gemma Sharp answered on 18 Jun 2011:

      A stem cell is a cell that is able to develop into any different type of cell.

      You know how we have different cells for different purposes, like white blood cells to fight infection, and nerve cells to transmit signals to the brain? Well a stem cell is able to develop into one of those other types of cell. They can also stay as stem cells and divide to make more stem cells so that they don’t all get used up.

      When embryos are developing during pregnancy, they’re made up of lots of stem cells which then change into specialised cells to build different organs. Scientists can learn a lot about how humans develop by studying these stem cells. They will also be able to learn a lot about how cells divide and how they become specialised, which will give us more of an idea about how diseases like cancer happen.

      Stem cells could also be grown in a lab and used to test drugs, and could even be grown to create new tissues and organs for transplants.

      But there’s quite a bit of controversy about stem cell research, and some people think scientists shouldn’t be allowed to do it. That’s because scientists who study this have to create human embryos and then kill them to get the stem cells. Others argue that human embryos aren’t really humans at that early stage so killing them is justified because of the medical advancements stem cell research will bring.

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