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Joel Sawyer
Professor Jizi
UWRT 1102-010
14 April 2016

Stem Cell Extended Inquiry Project

I was always a curious child eager to learn about anything new and exciting. I grew to
like reading about all the advances in science and medicine and healthcare. I heard about this
new medical discovery called stem cells, doctors were hailing them one of the greatest
discoveries in medical research in recent history. Though there are some out there that would like
to say that the use of them is unethical so research in the field was kind of under the radar for a
long time. It wasn't until I saw an episode of Family Guy on television, where the main character
Peter Griffin had a stroke and wandered into a stem cell clinic horribly disabled and reappeared
five min later completely healed and says Why arent we funding this!, I had my interests
piqued again. Then last semester in my biology class we talked about stem cells and watched a
clip from National Geographics How to Build a Beating Heart, where a man had a second
degree burn over a large section of his body and they used his own stem cells to heal his burns in
one weekend. I was amazed by what I just watched. Then I was given this assignment and the
idea of stem cells was still on my mind and I was curious about how else they could be beneficial
and the possibilities that they could unlock to extend and improve human life.
The interesting thing is there are so many things that stem cells could be used to cure that
everyone in the world could be impacted by the research being conducted. I would venture to
guess that you or someone you know closely has a disease or ailment that they were told was a
death sentence, cancer, Parkinsons disease, Huntingtons, or maybe an organ transplant, stem

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cells have the possibility to reverse that diagnosis. Also they could be used to change peoples
lives who don't have a terminal illness they are working to unlock the ability for regeneration of
people's skin for burn patients or if you lose a finger, ear or many other appendages. There is the
real possibility in my opinion that genetic maladies could really become a thing of the past if we
as a society take all the stigma of stem cell research and educate ourselves on the benefits that
they could unlock.
In Wesley W. Chen and Matthew Blurton-Jones article called Concise Review: Can Stem
Cells Be Used to Treat or Model Alzheimer's Disease, they talked about how in many
neurodegenerative diseases that inflammation can play a major role. They discuss a laboratory
experiment in which mice having been induced with Alzheimer's disease (AD) were given
mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which have anti-inflammatory properties, and the mice showed
improvement in the function of their brains (2614). Being that my grandmother has AD and if the
pathology of AD includes inflammation of the brain then this knowledge showed me that we are
on the path to possibly helping her or future AD sufferers regain/keep more cognitive function.
One question that this has brought to mind is that, since AD is believed to be genetic, since my
grandmother has it that means my mother may one day get it, so why couldnt this study be
related to a preventative measure for this disease or maybe another disease?
On the New York Stem Cell Foundations website there is a press release from July 24,
2014 called NYSCF Scientists One Step Closer to Cell Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis Patients in
the article they discuss breakthroughs in their research of multiple sclerosis. They say that they
have developed a possible way to turn back the clock to show how the disease develops. Then
they will be able to better design treatments using medicines and therapies replacing the
damaged cells in the brain (NYSCF). I had an aunt who has MS and this treatment could have

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drastically improved her life and elongated the quality of her life. In regards to my research
question I wanted to know if stem cells could cure the incurable and to improve the quality of
life and this is a perfect example of what I was looking for. This just brings up questions for me
as to why there isn't more of the research going on looking for new uses of the stem cell.
In the paper The Ethical Dilemma of Embryonic Stem Cell Research by Nabeel Manzar,
Bushra Manzar, Nuzhat Hussain, M. Fawwad Ahmed Hussain, and Sajjad Raza in the intro they
reference the problem that has been presented with the destruction of embryos. They talk about
the argument of the ethics behind the destruction of blastocysts, which is an egg that has been
fertilized and before it becomes an embryo. Some people see it as destroying a life and on the
other side people do not give them the same rights as a human life. Research has shown though
that the cells that can be derived from a blastocyst are the best to use in stem cell research due to
the pluripotent capabilities they have (98). Through their article I learned that ESC are the best
for the research possibly unlocking the cure to the incurable. I do see the argument that
destroying a blastocyst is like ending a possible life, but that being said they only use the
blastocysts that would otherwise go to waste from artificial insemination so I do not see the issue
with it. It also brings the question that what if people want to donate their unused embryos to the
research and what is the dilemma in that. If abortion is legal then what cant this be accepted as
well. Then I started to wonder how else we could get stem cells that are almost as useful.
On the website for EuroStemCell they have a page where they talk about the use of cord
blood to help to cure some diseases. Cord blood comes from the umbilical cord and the placenta
of a newly born baby. They can extract the hematopoietic stem cells and use their properties to
help cure and disease in the blood. This form of stem cells is good because it poses no risk to
anyone's life to collect and has great potential to help cure things like leukemia or other genetic

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blood disorders in children (EuroStemCell). This is a good in the sense that a person doesn't have
to make the ethical call of destroying a blastocyst to gain access to a possible cure to a
devastating disease. I think that when my wife and I are ready to have children and if there is a
possibility that we may need to have one of these treatments for our child this is a great
knowledge to poses. This does raise the question though what else are they working on that could
potentially need attention in my child or maybe in myself or my wife. I wanted to know more
about some of the more important things like organ replacement and where that falls into the
stem cell research.
In the documentary How to Build a Beating Heart directed by Mark Mannucci for the
National Geographic Channel they discuss the future of regenerative medicine. They are
discovering the possibilities to use stem cells from an individual to regrow tissue and internal
organs. They are trying to develop techniques to help the soldiers coming back from war with
extensive injuries by triggering the body to regrow limbs like salamanders by researching how to
get cells to regress to a more embryonic state and regenerate lost tissues (National Geographic).
As a veteran myself this was some incredible information I have met some of the people that
could greatly benefit from this type of medical advancements. Also it wouldnt just benefit those
scarred by battle this technology could benefit all of mankind. We could reduce the chances of
organ rejection and reduce the wait list for a transplant dramatically, thus in turn saving more
lives.
The most amazing thing that I learned was the advancements in the regenerative
medicines. I think that they have the most potential to help the most people. Plus it seems to me
like they are the farthest along in that research too, although they have the farthest to go. I think

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that I would like to have more of an addition of government funding for stem cell research
because they have already started to unlock the vast potential that this miracle has to offer.
I did not realize the scope of the stem cell uses and possible uses, I was truly impressed
by the sheer size of the field. It has made me want to follow the field more closely to see if it can
help my family in the future. I learn everyday just how fast someones health can change, I was
just told that my uncle may be in serious need of a heart transplant, it has made me want to look
further into the process of how to rebuild the heart. Also the possible studies being conducted in
the field for that and to possibly help my grandma if at all possible.
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Works Cited
Chen, Wesley W., and Mathew Blurton-Jones. "Concise Review: Can Stem Cells Be Used to
Treat or Model Alzheimer's Disease?" Stem Cells 30.12 (2012): 2612-618. Print.
EuroStemCell. "Europe's Stem Cell Hub | EuroStemCell | Stem Cell Research, Regenerative
Medicine and Stem Cell Ethics. Resources, Fact Sheets, FAQ." Europe's Stem Cell Hub |
EuroStemCell | Stem Cell Research, Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Ethics.
Resources, Fact Sheets, FAQ. EuroStemCell, 2016. Web. 01 Apr. 2016.
Manzar, Nabeel, Bushra Manzar, Nuzhat Hussain, M. Fawwad Ahmed Hussain, and Sajjad Raza.
"The Ethical Dilemma of Embryonic Stem Cell Research." Sci Eng Ethics Science and
Engineering Ethics 19.1 (2011): 97-106. Print.
National Geographic. "How to Build a Beating Heart." YouTube. YouTube, 23 Nov. 2011. Web.
04 Apr. 2016.
The New York Stem Cell Foundation. "The New York Stem Cell Foundation." The New York
Stem Cell Foundation. The New York Stem Cell Foundation, 2005-2016. Web. 01 Apr.
2016.