Stem cells

• Embryonic Stem Cells


  Can turn into ANY type of cell
• Differentiation


  Cell changes to become specialised for its job
• Undifferentiated cells


  Called stem cells, can divide to produce lots of undifferentiated cells
• Stem cells


  Found in early human embryos, useful to doctors and medical researchers because they can differentiate into different types of cells
• Adult stem cells


  Only found in certain places, can turn into only certain types of cells found in a human being
• Growing stem cells in a lab

  Can produce large numbers of stem cells and make them differentiate into specialised cells to use in medicine or research
• Medicine already uses adult stem cells to cure disease
• Therapeutic cloning


  An embryo could be made to have the same genetic information as the patient, so the stem cells produced wouldn't be rejected by the patient's body
• There are risks involved in using stem cells in medicine, such as stem cells grown in the lab becoming contaminated
• Arguments against stem cell research

  • Human embryos shouldn't be used for experiments as each one is a potential human life
  • Curing existing patients who are suffering is more important than the rights of embryos
  • Scientists should concentrate more on finding and developing other sources of stem cells
• In some countries stem cell research is banned, but it's allowed in the UK as long as it follows strict guidelines
• Plant stem cells


  Found in the meristems (parts of the plant where growth occurs), can differentiate into any type of plant cell
• Uses of plant stem cells


  • Produce clones (identical copies) of whole plants quickly and cheaply
  • Grow more plants of rare species to prevent them being wiped out
  • Grow crops of identical plants with desired features for farmers
• At florists, stem cells are used, and nobody complains about that