Response: California Awards Grants for Research Projects in Nonembryonic Stem Cells. 7

I chose this article specifically because it was recommended that I look more into the politics of stem cell research, and also because this article compared multiple types of stem cells (something that was also recommended I look into.)

Reading a side by side comparison of hESCs to adult stem cells made my hopeful that there will be a way around using hESCs. My main opposition to hESCs was mentioned in this article. I'm uncomfortable with the fact that hESC research requires the destruction of human embryos. There's no way around this destruction during the research, so hopefully there will be a way around the research all together. However after reading this article, I would support hESC research if that was the most effective way to treat a specific disease, but only those certain diseases it was necessary for.

This article answered a lot of questions I've had about adult and embryonic stem cells. Adult stem cells don't have as much of a variety of what they can treat, while it's believed that hESCs can treat close to any disease. I had always thought that they had the same variety of treatment options, but this article proved me wrong.

One portion of the article that I found incredibly fascinating was the treatment of AIDS. If they are able to cure HIV/AIDS by replicating the bone marrow that seems to be resistant to the disease, that would be an incredible break through. A once incurable disease would be treatable and would change many people's lives. I look forward to following this information that I found and seeing if any where else is working on this area of research. This remarkable discovery was made in Berlin, Germany, where the patient was treated.

Notes: California Awards Grants for Research Projects in Nonembryonic Stem Cells. 7

$230 million in grants was recently awarded to California. The grants are to be used for pushing stem cell research further into developing therapies for a multitude of diseases (anything from cancer to AIDS).

In only four years the recipients of the grants are expected to have the research far enough along to be able to do human testing.

4 out of the 14 projects involve hESCs, and the others will use adult stem cell. However, adult stem cells are thought to "give rise to tumors" (Andrew Pollack, p. 1).

The grants shy away from the voter's original intent. In 2004 California approved a 10 year, 3 billion dollar effort to work around the restrictions of hESC research set by President George W. Bush. These new grants focus mainly on adult stem cells. This year President Obama's administration has lessened the severity of the restrictions.

hESC research is very controversial because the research of hESCs requires the destruction of human embryos (the main reason why I'm not yet a supporter.)

Voters say to "pursue the very best cell type for each disease." California voters that chose to support these past research votes, are not opposed to hESC research as long as they believe it will be helping more people in the long run. It doesn't make a difference to them which type of stem cell is being used as long as the disease is being treated in the best way possible.

The grants however, do not support the thoughts of many California voters. Instead the grants side with the view that adult stem cells are so close to a breakthrough that they will soon be as effective as hESCs, without the controversy.

hESCs grow easily and can form almost any type of tissue in the body. Researches hope to be able to use hESCs to create heart cells, brain cells, and any other kind of tissue. To avoid the hESCs from turning into tumors, the cells first have to be purified to the specific type of cell they're used to create before they are cultured.

Adult stem cells have a more limited range compared to hESCs as to how many different types of tissues they're able to create. On the plus side for adult stem cells, they've been researched much longer than hESCs and through bone marrow, they are already used in a variety of treatments.

One project being funded by the grant is taking cardiac cells from the heart and putting them into culture where they can grow into new heart cells. When they reach this point they will be put back into the heart where they will hopefully repair the damage done by a heart attack.

Another project is to use stem cells to treat type 1 diabetes. Projects using hESCs include treating strokes, Lou Gehrig's disease, and macular degeneration (and eye disease.)

One project will use pluripotent stem cells (which have many of the same qualities of hESCs) to treat a rare skin disease called epidermolysis bullosa.

A very exciting project will attempt to replicate one person's possible cure of their AIDS last year. The patient also had leukemia (cancer of the blood.) and received a bone marrow transplant. The bone marrow seemed to be resistant to HIV making the recipient of the bone marrow also resistant to HIV.