Mother of All Cells

In the later part of the 1990's, there was a very productive period in the history of biological research. It was in this period of time that the first cloned mammal was born. Shortly after this accomplishment was the first successful derivation of human embryonic stem cells. This was the completion of the Human Genome Project.

"Mother of All Cells" really suits this article considering that it discusses one of the strongest and most powerful cells and the progressive research involving this cell.

Many people dream of the day it will be possible to create new cells by cloning and using genetic engineering, hoping that one day creating healthy new organs to replaces diseased and malfunctioning organs will be a natural way of life.

Although many people support this research there is some who say it goes against all ethical and religious values. They fear that if therapeutic cloning is allowed it will one day lead to reproductive cloning.

Stem cells are basically used as a biological repair system. They are capable of developing into many different types of specialized cells throughout the entire body.

Stem cell research is not necessarily new to us. Therapies using stem cells have been practiced for decades. The most common use of stem cell therapy is the bone marrow transplant. This is the type of transplant that is beneficial in the treatment of leukemia and other blood related disorders. Most of the therapies performed up until now have used adult stem cells.

Other types of stem cells being used are known as somatic stem cells. These come from infants or fetus. Early embryos are the better source because their cells are unspecialized.

James Thompson created the first line of human embryonic stem cells in 1998. The process of forming this type of stem cells is very tricky. In the process of making ES cell, cells from one-week old embryo, a microscopic ball of fifty to one-hundred cells, are placed in a laboratory dish and cultured with nutrients and growth factors. Still after seven years of hard work, there are less than one-hundred-fifty well characterized ES cells worldwide. One characterized stem, however, cell lines are essentially immortal and can be frozen in a cell bank for storage and later distribution.

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