BACKGROUND
Basics
​Stem cells have the ability to develop into different cells at early stages in the human body. They are unspecialized cells capable of differentiating through cell division. Stem cells can also be stored over a long period of time of inactivity. Stem cells can be induced to become tissue or organ cells. The characteristics of the stem cells allows it to be used to reconstruct damaged parts of the body.
Adult Stem Cells
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
What are stem cells?
Phases of Stem Cells
These stem cells are derived from embryos. The embryos come from eggs that have been fertilized in vitro by a donor for medical research. (Not derived eggs fertilized from a woman's body). In order to grow the cells they are cultured and tested. By manipulating the cell under cell culture allows the cell to become prepared to be specialized for a specific cell.
Embryonic Stem Cells
These undifferentiated cells are found amongst differentiated cells that can renew itself to form other specialized cells. The primary role is to repair damage to the area where they were found in the body. The origin of adult stems are said to be found in mature tissue but, investigation is still underway.
These are adult stem cells that have been genetically modified to be developed into an embryonic stem cell state. They are forced to express the genes to maintain the defining properties of embryonic stem cells. IPSC are already helpful when modifying drugs and modeling diseases.
What is regenative medicine?
Regenerative medicine is the clincally advanced way to harness the body's ability to restore damged cells and tissue. Through the use of stem cell research it would allow scientist to rebuild the structure of damaged areas of the body. The overall goal of this field is cure untreatable injuries and dieases. The four main points of regenerative medicine are: to create artifical organs, research and develop tissue engineering and biomaterials, test the medicine through cellular therapies, and to have clinical translation become active in the medical field. Each one of these components are the build blocks to regenerative medicine that could lead us to a future in physial healing.
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The first phase to creating a stem cell takes place in virtro. This means that the egg is fertilzied outside of a woman's body in a lab dish.
This phase of the stem cell is formed after five to six days of fertilization. Embryos are cultured forming a cellular mass to later be divided to being the development phase.
This is the cluster of cells inside a blastocyst. The inner stem cell mass divides at a rapid pace to begin forming undifferentaited stem cells. This mass usually generates embryoinc stem cells.
In Vitro Fertilized Egg
Blastocyst
Inner Stem Cell Mass
Here the undifferentiated stem cells are pulled from the inner stem cell mass. These cells are fully developed to be potential specialized stem cells to be used for regenerative medicine.
The stems cells are now cultured and are given the specific trait used to express a particular characteristic of a cell. For example, the undifferentiated stem cells could be developed into skin cells that could replace damged skin.