How Advanced Cell Technology Could Affect Your Life
With all the new assistive technology devices around the world latest & fastest growing science is advanced cell technology. Many have asked me, What is advanced cell technology? It is the study of stem human cells and embryonic cells. This study could potentially impact our lives through future treatments and possible cures of many diseases. In mammals, there are two types of stem cells. One type of stem cells is the embryonic stem cells. In a developing embryo, stem cells can set themselves apart and into specialized cells, but also maintain the normal turnover of regenerative organs like blood, skin or intestinal tissues. The reason the study of these specific cell therapies are becoming mainstream functional in biotechnological circles is due to the potential treatment and future eradication of a variety of diseases. In addition, the development of stem cell based technologies of both human and embryonic is what comprises regenerative medicine. This medicine holds the key to treatments and cure.
These are the basi
cs of advanced cell technology. Embryonic stem cells come from the inner cell mass of the early embryo. They are then harvested from the donor mother animal. Scientists have developed a technique that delays embryo implantation, causing an increase in the inner cell mass. This procedure consists of removing the donor mother’s ovaries and changing her hormone environment with applications of progesterone. This causes the embryos to remain free in the uterus. After several days, the embryos are harvested and developed in in vitro culture until the inner cell mass forms egg-type structures. These are dissociated into single cells and plated on fibroblasts that are treated with mitomycin-c. Clonal cell lines are then created by producing a single cell. Scientists have shown that the cells produced from these cultures could form embryonic bodies and set themselves apart in vitro. A biological revolution from this science was born and perpetuated.
When actor Christopher Reeves had his equestrian accident back in 1995, he was a huge advocate of human embryonic stem cell research for the potential healing effects that might possibly become of it for people with spinal cord injuries. He created a foundation specifically for this purpose and dedicated the rest of his life to the research of stem cells. Michael J. Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991 and created the Michael J. Fox Foundation in order to help advance every promising research path to curing Parkinson’s disease, through embryonic cell research. Both individuals embraced the element of hope through research in order that their injuries and maladies could be treated or cured.
The Frontier of Advanced Cell Research
What is happening on the advanced cell technology research frontier today? Is there research that is ongoing? As recently as 2006, the online science journal published a paper that stated a team of scientists and doctors had found a way to bring out embryonic stem cells without damaging the actual embryo, producing a stem cell line using a process similar to pre-implantation genetic diagnosis in which a single blastomere is gleaned from a blastocyst. This accomplishment could eventually enable scientists to handle or brand new lines of embryonic stem cells created using public funding. And in 2010, the company Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. announced that they had been approved from the US FDA to begin the first human clinical trial utilizing embryonic stem cells to treat retinal disease.
An important obstacle to research is governmental approval or Congressional approval. As different political parties assume power and control over our legislative bodies, at times this approval is delayed or at times put on hold or even rejected. Fears over the unknown, over how the constituents will vote or even a personal conscience over the ethics and morality of stem cell research are also a prominent factor in additional research delay.
An additional aspect of advanced cell technology research delays is because there is so much resistance to human embryonic stem cell research, specifically by the evangelical Christian community. The Christian community fears are rooted in future abuse of many of the capacities that we currently have or will have as a result of this research. These 
fears stem from some of the horrors and experimentation at the hands of Nazi Germany in World War II. These fears are also sometimes heard as playing God, cloning, etc. But that really betrays a faith in God and brings about or highlights a lack of faith in each other rather than a faith in God. That is the issue, front and center, in this great debate over stem cell research between the scientific and evangelical community. In the final analysis, the argument about stem cell research is a real chance to go beyond the perilous protocol of ignoring various fears or letting ourselves be captured by them. Rather, the scientific community should ensure that the proper consideration is actually given to the evangelical community who fears our hold on embryonic stem cell research, analyzing their dissent in an increasingly serious vain. If those who practice advance cell technology can own up to past excesses of some in the scientific community and monitor those excesses so as not to repeat them, stem cell research would advance with greater awareness that would be mutually beneficial for everyone.
The Potential of Advanced Cell Technology
What kind of potential could eventually come from the study of advanced cell technology? Could remedies, treatments or cures for rare and dreaded diseases become a reality? Would people actually be able to escape the terminal death sentences that certain diseases wreak? It is speculated that in-depth research at the cellular level might amount to future possible cures of everything from paralytic injuries to unlocking a possible cure for various cancers and diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Different platforms are currently being developed for the treatment of blood diseases like leukemia and cardiovascular diseases. But many of these platforms are still only in the pre-clinical development phase. Additional time and patience will be required if stem cell research will advance to its natural state.
In 2011, the results of advanced cell technology are beginning to become a reality as opposed to comic book dreams or an episode of the Jetsons. Think back to the early 1960s, approximately 50 years ago and see how far we have come today. Leukemia killed everyone that became afflicted with it. Everyone who contracted cancer died of cancer or complications. There was absolutely no hope offered when people were paralyzed by spinal cord injuries. Hearing that you had contracted AIDS was reason to automatically mourn the rest of your existence. However, AIDS became a sentence with which could be lived due to pharmaceutical research. Some research just doesn’t yield results in a quick manner. The Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon is a great case in point. The millions of dollars raised over the years have made some strides in the disease eradication, but the disease still exists, unlike polio.
In essence, advanced cell technology offers hope for tomorrow from some of the most hideous maladies and afflictions that have plagued mankind throughout history. Many of these diseases have natural origins, but many of the injuries have been self-inflicted. As long as there is genuine research in the scientific laboratories of colleges, universities, hospitals and clinics throughout the world, there is a genuine reason for hope. Faith is the engine that drives hope, faith in our past in what we have accomplished and faith in our future in what we will accomplish.
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