Human Based Stem Cell Culture Medium Developed

ubersonic writes "A new culture medium for growing human stem cells -- that contains no animal products -- is offering researchers a cleaner and therefore safer environment for performing the cutting-edge technology. The discovery means that stem cells developed for therapeutic use can be transferred directly to human subjects. By using this medium all of the concerns about contaminating proteins in existing stem cell lines can essentially be removed."

Comments

Re:Interesting Discovery

[TubeSteak]

Could this totally remove the argument about stem cell research?

Nothing can remove the argument about stem cell research.

The measures taken by Pres. Bush only placate some of the critics.

There will always be a group of hardliners who think any stem cell research is bad, in the same way that some people think any abortions are bad, irrelevant of the circumstances.

For some people, the issue is about where the stem cells came from, for others, the issue is about what can be done with the stem cells.

Real Contri

[dartarrow]

FTA: "The scientists hope their findings will help reopen the debate over federal funding of stem cell research in the United States."

the real contribution any stem cell research/findings should at this point be :
1. clearing up its name, after the incident from *that* korean scientist
2. reducing if not totally eliminating legal limitations based on ethical issues.

do these things and you're good to go.

Re:Interesting Discovery

[heatdeath]

No, they're able to produce Stem Cells without using animal proteins, which means that they don't have to remove the contaminating proteins after it's cultured. This doesn't change anything wrt the debate about if it's right - which is primarily over the fact that the most useful stem cells still come from aborted fetuses, which nearly all anti-abortion advocates think is immoral.

Is it so hard to RTFA?

[TubeSteak]

"All of the concerns about contaminating proteins in existing stem cell lines can essentially be removed using this medium,"

"We describe the derivation of two new human embryonic stem cell lines in... culture that includes protein components solely derived from recombinant sources or purified from human material,

"Derivation and culture in serum-free, animal-product-free, feeder-independent conditions mean that new human embryonic stem cell lines could be qualitatively different from the original lines

And one more quote for good measure:

The two new cell lines managed to survive without developing abnormalities for four and seven months.

I'm not sure how long you want "long-term" to be, but they must have chafed at having to hold back their paper for an extra 3 months.

Re:Interesting Discovery

[lysergic.acid]

Well, the problem still remains since the main issue most pro-lifers have with abortion is that you are in fact destroying something that has the potential to become a human being. Most individuals who are against abortion do not make distinctions between a fertilized egg, an embryo, a fetus, and a human being. That's why many pro-life pharmacists often refuse to fill morning after pill prescriptions which are meant to prevent a pregnancy by causing any possible fertilization to be aborted before implantation into the womb. Pro-lifers consider this act an abortion even though a woman's body often does this naturally without the woman's knowledge in what's called a spontaneous abortion--this is why the medical community does not consider fertilization to be the beginning of the pregnancy, but rather when the fertilized egg is actually implanted.

So yea, if you look at the situation from a medical perspective, there are no obvious ethical dilemmas. But those against stem cell research are looking at issue in a religiously framed context using different definitions of terms and medically/scientifically unsupported premises.

There are better ways to get stem cells

[Anonymous Coward]

There are companies out there that can produce stem cells without the use of baby fetuses, the problem is the government is not informed enough to separate these company from the companies that do use baby fetuses. http://www.aastrom.com/ is a company that produces stem cells for you using your own bone marrow and they have had a few positive human tests around the world (including the US) but everyone is still worried about human fetuses. I just don't understand.....