The first fully lab-grown organ transplant has taken place

[gophins72]

those were adult stem cells, dude. They didn't take them from his own, uh embryo.

the US has never had a problem with adult stem cell research. But convince some neolithic pus-brained moral police that embryo = sacred cute little baby, you get a shit storm.

soon, soon enough, these fuckwads will take their ancient morality and fear of science somewhere far away from the rest of the free-thinking and progressive world...maybe to Kansas?

Yeah, what i was trying to say was that if the ban had not been in effect in America, it would have been our scientists making headlines rather than European ones because the knowledge gained from the embryonic stem cell research would have advanced our current knowledge and our own competitiveness much further than it is now (rather than at a standstill and a comparative loss during the ban).

 

[ElFenix]

Yeah, what i was trying to say was that if the ban had not been in effect in America, it would have been our scientists making headlines rather than European ones because the knowledge gained from the embryonic stem cell research would have advanced our current knowledge and our own competitiveness much further than it is now (rather than at a standstill and a comparative loss during the ban).

again, science doesn't know borders. the world knowledge of adult stem cells is higher today because the feds didn't fund embryonic stem cells with that money.

you know who invented stealth airplane math? the russians. they published it, and we took off with it.

 

[Taejin]

this isnt that novel or amazing

static structures are complex, yes, but the holy grail will be organs like the liver.

 

[zinfamous]

Yeah, what i was trying to say was that if the ban had not been in effect in America, it would have been our scientists making headlines rather than European ones because the knowledge gained from the embryonic stem cell research would have advanced our current knowledge and our own competitiveness much further than it is now (rather than at a standstill and a comparative loss during the ban).

agreed. it is a failure on our part for not allowing ourselves to take the lead as we have for the previous 5 or so decades when it comes to science and research--but that certainly didn't kill the science, which is most important.

Much of that talent went to places like Singapore, which dropped a shit-ton of money in developing a next-gen research center specializing in stem cell research. The talent is always there, anywhere--they'll just follow the work.

And hell, the one thing that California has done right in the last several years--and behind the lead of the governator, no less--was more or less reject Bush's moral anti-science crusade and open up state funding for stem cell research. At least one state chose not to live in the middle ages of medical investigation. :\

 

[zinfamous]

this isnt that novel or amazing

static structures are complex, yes, but the holy grail will be organs like the liver.

:thumbsup:

We will all be Irish on that day, for sure.

:sneaky:

 

[zinfamous]

http://www.ted.com/talks/anthony_atala_printing_a_human_kidney.html

I wonder though, how do they deactive the cells to stop growing? Will they just naturally only split X times?

would need some sort of "internal switch," that blocks that pathway.

the big problem with stem cells--and especially embryonic stem cells, is that they behave like cancer. the pluripotency of ES cells makes them a boon to possibility in research, but also a potential dead end--in most of the studies, you end up dealing with a lot of tumors.

the beauty of this, though, is that it offers another avenue towards cancer research--How the fuck do we get these things to stop growing, and better yet, can we program stem cells to act as hijackers--like a trojan horse--and destroy tumor cells in the body?

pretty cool stuff.

 

[gophins72]

again, science doesn't know borders. the world knowledge of adult stem cells is higher today because the feds didn't fund embryonic stem cells with that money.

you know who invented stealth airplane math? the russians. they published it, and we took off with it.

our difference in opinion lies in this:

the world knowledge of adult stem cells is higher today because the feds didn't fund embryonic stem cells with that money.

whereas you believe that is the case, but i believe that the knowledge would be much further had the feds did not ban funding. We will not settle this so I tip my hat to you on the matter since we are pretty much repeating ourselves at this point.

 

[gophins72]

would need some sort of "internal switch," that blocks that pathway.

the big problem with stem cells--and especially embryonic stem cells, is that they behave like cancer. the pluripotency of ES cells makes them a boon to possibility in research, but also a potential dead end--in most of the studies, you end up dealing with a lot of tumors.

the beauty of this, though, is that it offers another avenue towards cancer research--How the fuck do we get these things to stop growing, and better yet, can we program stem cells to act as hijackers--like a trojan horse--and destroy tumor cells in the body?

pretty cool stuff.

it is very cool, and the beauty of the embyronic stem cells is that they can become any other cell, not just specialized trachea cells. however, the curse of the beauty is that tumors are also "any other cell." but it could just be a matter of getting the right signaling mechanisms in place (and removing the errant ones).

We might not need to use stem cells to combat cancer, we could make a virus that goes through and marks tumors as foreign cells and let the body attack it naturally. That would be pretty cool. Of course, how do you selectively get the right id codes onto those cells would be the major hurdle.

Also, the idea of using stem cells to combat alzheimers or spinal cord injuries is pretty cool.

 

[Jeff7]

would need some sort of "internal switch," that blocks that pathway.

the big problem with stem cells--and especially embryonic stem cells, is that they behave like cancer. the pluripotency of ES cells makes them a boon to possibility in research, but also a potential dead end--in most of the studies, you end up dealing with a lot of tumors.

the beauty of this, though, is that it offers another avenue towards cancer research--How the fuck do we get these things to stop growing, and better yet, can we program stem cells to act as hijackers--like a trojan horse--and destroy tumor cells in the body?

pretty cool stuff.

So what you're saying is, I could use these stem cells to grow brain tumors all over my body? I'd just need the stem cells to grow a RAIB controller, and I'd be set.

 

[Old Hippie]

It's never too early to put me on the list for a liver.

I'm right behind ya.

 

[SagaLore]

Next up, penile enlargement using stem cells.

Actually this is serious stuff when it comes to genitals. Imagine all those people wanting sex change operations - and instead of fashioning fake penises that never work, or vaginas made out of skin parts, you take a stem cell and flip an X/Y chromosome, and grow a real vagina/clitoris or penis/testicles.

 

[Acanthus]

http://www.ted.com/talks/anthony_atala_printing_a_human_kidney.html

I wonder though, how do they deactive the cells to stop growing? Will they just naturally only split X times?

Are you saying that he will become a man giraffe and eat all of the leaves off of all of the trees in the world, causing massive global warming and destroying the earth?

That is the stupidest idea i've ever heard.

 

[Gibsons]

would need some sort of "internal switch," that blocks that pathway.

the big problem with stem cells--and especially embryonic stem cells, is that they behave like cancer. the pluripotency of ES cells makes them a boon to possibility in research, but also a potential dead end--in most of the studies, you end up dealing with a lot of tumors.

the beauty of this, though, is that it offers another avenue towards cancer research--How the fuck do we get these things to stop growing, and better yet, can we program stem cells to act as hijackers--like a trojan horse--and destroy tumor cells in the body?

pretty cool stuff.

Cells have a switch that stops them from growing. Typically around 15-20 divisions and they just stop and won't divide any more. They also tend to stop growing once they make contact with each other.

One thing most all cancer cells have in common is that the switch that limits how many times they will divide is broken - they'll divide as long as they have food and such. They also usually have lost the contact inhibition switch as well.

 

[coloumb]

1st step to immortality [pending they can clone your brain with all of your memories intact].

 

[BoberFett]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRtlkcQ6brE

 

[Farang]

i'm drinking some tequila to celebrate, liver can't tell me what to do no more!