• Question: What are stem cells?

    Asked by dalvindk to Damien, Rachael, Simon, Suzi, Tim on 16 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Suzi Gage

      Suzi Gage answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      Hi @dalvindk
      Stem cells are a type of cell that we have that can specialize when they divide, so are able to perform different functions. They’re either found in human foetuses or in certain areas of the body in adults.

      They are really useful for experiments because they can self replicate, so it is thought that they could be used to treat diseases such as some types of cancer, by replacing cancerous cells with stem cells which can specialise to replace the removed cells, and also regulate other cells.

      People thought this was a bad idea as stem cells to experiment on were being taking from aborted pregnancies, which some religious groups were against (the pregnancies were not aborted in order to get the stem cells, to be clear).
      However, now stem cells can be taken from adults, and indeed can be created artificially in the lab, this isn’t a problem any more, so hopefully research can be done using them, and treatments for some really horrible diseases can be discovered.

      Hope this answers your question 🙂

Comments