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Stem cells may allow us grow spare parts for our bodies
Researchers in Galway are trying to unlock the secrets of adult stem cells. The special properties of these cells mean that in the future we may be able to rebuild ourselves when things go wrong with our limbs or organs. This exciting research is happening at REMEDI, the Regenerative Medicine Institute at NUI Galway. REMEDI researcher Gemma Rooney showed SCOPE around and explained her work. "[Adult] stem cells are the basic building blocks of the human body," she said. "They have the ability to change into other cell types... for example our bone marrow cells could change into bone, cartilage or fat." Varied There are many (over 200) different types of cell in the human body. They are specialised for a particular role in the body, for example in forming, skin, bone or nerve tissue. Most of these can create new cells by dividing themselves in two in a process known as mitosis. (Single-cell organisms like the amoeba create a whole new organism when they divide.) Generally, human cell division creates more of the same type of cell. Skin cells divide to produce more skin cells, for example. What makes adult stem cells special is that they do not have this limitation. An adult stem cell has the potential to turn into many other types of cell. This raises the possibility of adult using stem cells as repair kits. Gemma says they may be able to "repair any injury we have, say wear and tear on the joints". Growth REMEDI works with adult bone marrow stem cells. These are collected from people by taking a sample of the bone marrow from their hip bones using a special needle. "Once we have the stem cells," says Gemma, "we grow them in little tissue culture flasks and add in nutrients so they can grow... outside of the body." They could put about 750,000 cells down on plates and after a week get back four to seven million cells. The growing plates have to be carefully managed and the cells fed every couple of days. "They really need good care," says Gemma. The adult stem cells can be exposed to various growth factors that will make them turn into a particular type of cell, a process called differentiation. Research Gemma explains two ways in which adult stem cells can be used: Among the disease that adult stem cell researchers hope to treat are:
"Parkinson's disease results from a loss of cells in a specific brain area, so we would hopefully try to generate some of these neurons in culture and then inject them into that brain area so hopefully we could regenerate the cells that were lost," says Gemma. So will we be able to grow whole replacement organs in the future? Gemma says this is still some time away, but the possibility is certainly there. "We might be able to design biodegradable scaffolds that are in the shape of an organ, that we would be able to set cells in and grow them up as an entire organ," she says. Learn more: Visit Remedi on the web Read students' winning stem cell research essays |
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