Beliefs and Believers: Buddhism
In terms of stem cell research, the two most basic Buddhist ideas that come into play are ahimsa, the prohibition against harming or destroying others, and the pursuit of knowledge (prajña) and compassion (karua). Buddhism, however, has no official religious hierarchy to weigh in on this issue. It is a […]
Beliefs and Believers: Catholicism
The hierarchy of the Catholic Church has taken a historically critical position of embryonic stem cell research. The U.S. Roman Catholic Bishops oppose the research as “immoral, illegal, and unnecessary.” They say life is sacred from the moment of conception. As a result of this position, the Catholic Church has […]
Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) and Stem Cells
The State of SCI A survey this year by the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation found 1.275 million Americans have suffered a spinal cord injury (SCI). In the coming year alone, 130,000 people worldwide will suffer a SCI, losing functions such as mobility or feeling, and enduring complications such as […]
People Helping People: Konrad Hochedlinger
In 1999, Konrad Hochedlinger squeezed into a packed lecture at the Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna to hear stem cell researcher Rudolf Jaenisch talk about nuclear transfer cloning techniques. Hochedlinger, a biology masters student, knew little about cloning, but he’d been intrigued by the technique ever since scientists cloned […]
People Helping People: Robert Lanza
Robert Lanza, M. D. is considered one of the leading scientists in the world. He is currently Chief Scientific Officer at Advanced Cell Technology, and Adjunct Professor at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. He has hundreds of publications and inventions, and over 20 scientific books: among them, “Principles of […]
People Helping People: Michael West
Dr. West is the Chief Executive Officer of BioTime, Inc. (OTCBB: BTIM) and Embryome Sciences, Inc. of Alameda, California. The Companies are focused on developing an array of research and therapeutic products using human embryonic stem cell technology. He received his Ph.D. from Baylor College of Medicine in 1989 concentrating […]
People Helping People: William Lensch
I want to know where blood comes from. Biologically, the blood (hematopoietic) system is fantastically intricate. The complexity of how it’s regulated and responds to environmental stresses is on par with any other tissue or organ. All the parts of the body work together in a delicately balanced system of […]
People Helping People: George Daley
Like a movie with multiple plots spiraling around an intriguing lead character, George Daley’s scientific career centers on a major player in human biology—the cell that creates the entire array of blood cells. The hematopoietic stem cell (HSC), which gives rise to the progenitors of all the differentiated, specialized blood […]
How stem cell research has nothing to do with abortion or cloning
Now that you’ve begun to understand the fundamentals of stem cell research (See “What are stem cells and where do they come from?”), let’s delve into the controversy that surrounds it. You may have heard terms like “cloning” and “abortion” used in relation to this research, so we should take […]
What are stem cells and where do they come from?
One of the most basic questions in stem cell research is two-fold: What are stem cells and where do they come from? Stem cells, like other types of cells, are found throughout the body, but they have two very unique characteristics. 1) they have the ability to divide into other […]