Are we in the middle of a shift in stem cell research?
Just a week after the news came out that embryonic stem cells had been derived from a cloned primate embryo, the stem cell research scene could be experiencing another significant shift. The UK's Daily Telegraph reported late last week that Ian Wilmut, the scientist who cloned Dolly the sheep, is dropping cloning in favor of an approach that reprograms adult cells. This "de-differentiation" method is the work of a team led by Shinya Yamanaka at Kyoto University. Earlier this year Yamanaka's team, along with others at Whitehead, MIT and UCLA, announced that they had coaxed adult mouse skin cells into acting like embryonic stem cells. That's a big deal, in large part because it bypasses having to use cloned embryos to create the cells.
Of course, what works in mice doesn't necessarily work in people. But as mentioned in that Daily Telegraph story about Wilmut, there is now word that Yamanaka has gotten this method to work with human cells. The Kyoto team will apparently be publishing a paper this Tuesday detailing what they've accomplished.
If this news turns out to be true, it will almost surely have a significant effect on the ethical and political discussions surrounding stem cell research. But don't forget about what's pushing the research in this direction -- the science itself. Wilmut told the BBC that ethics didn't have anything to do with his team's switch. Rather, he and others think that de-differentiation currently has a better chance of ultimately leading to therapies.
-Greg Dahlmann
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Shouldn't ethics guide the science or at least the scientist?
- by Beverly Nuckols on Nov 19, 2007 at 1:19 AM | link
Ethics are part of it but scientists are inspire mainly by the scientific curiousity just as sports people are by the compeition and the game, teachers by the teaching and parents by the nurturing. Ethics is part of the activity but not *the* activity.
I think stem cell research is much broader based now and so people are filtering into niches. This is just one of them. Others include making stems cells to harvest from adults such as with parabiosis. No one is going to come up with a big leap any time soon as far as I can tell. It is good to see lots of different approaches being taken as it maximising the change of finding a real breakthrough.
- by emily on Nov 19, 2007 at 9:30 AM | link
Teachers, coaches, doctors and scientists without a strong sense of ethics run off to Mexico with students, illicitly videotape the competition, maim and kill patients and commit fraud by manipulating results.
If the scientist is driven by curiosity (and a desire for her own set of patents?) or because "it's legal," where do we draw the line between preference, opinion and conscience?
- by Beverly Nuckols on Nov 19, 2007 at 10:42 AM | link
I think you are confusing the engine with the steering wheel. Science is primarily about science, that doesn't make it *not* about ethics. Just as bioethics being primarily ethics, doesn't make it not about science.
- by emily on Nov 19, 2007 at 11:13 AM | link
emily, you can check out The Niche, Nature's stem cell blog for more of Mrs. Nuckol's commentary. She's confusing the engine for the steering wheel because she wants her religion to be in the drivers seat. Any comment she makes is for the purpose of advancing her agenda, and not for the purpose of encouraging open discussion, as I'm sure you'll come to realize.
- by Mr. Gunn on Nov 19, 2007 at 2:25 PM | link
The shift in stem cell research is because people are realizing that ESCs aren't really anywhere close to a clinical application, whereas progenitor cells have some applications today. It's a trendiness thing. People will still do basic research on ESCs, but the guys who want to be famous are shifting to things that look like they're closer to the clinic.
- by Mr. Gunn on Nov 19, 2007 at 2:30 PM | link
It's great to see people engaging each other on this issue. It's an important conversation and I'm encouraged to see people taking the time to participate. Just as a friendly reminder, though, let's keep treating each other with the respect we all deserve.
- by Greg on Nov 19, 2007 at 4:38 PM | link
Ethics are part of it but scientists are inspire mainly by the scientific curiousity just as sports people are by the compeition and the game, teachers by the teaching and parents by the nurturing. Ethics is part of the activity but not *the* activity
- by hap on Nov 28, 2007 at 6:35 AM | link