Researchers say human adult and embryonic stem cell research is complementary
Analysis of some 2,000 papers shows any disruption of stem cell research could harm the field.
June 9, 2011
New research says studying both adult and embryonic stem cells can benefit medical science, but banning the study of either type could harm studies of the other.
Researchers from the University of Michigan, Stanford University and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. recently investigated whether the increased number of studies with a certain type of adult stem cell has changed the overall course of research in the field.
The researchers analyzed more than 2,000 scientific papers and found adult stem cells are not replacing human embryonic stems cells in the laboratory. Instead, the two cell types have proven to be complementary and any disruption of federal funding, they say, would negatively impact stem cell research overall.
"This is an important study that systematically examines the co-authorship networks of stem cell research articles and uses those to understand the interactions between two complementary areas of research," says Julia Lane, program director for Science of Science & Innovation Policy at the National Science Foundation (NSF), which funded the study.
"It is particularly interesting because it uses new analytical techniques to advance our understanding of how the implementation of policy in one area can affect scientific research in another area."
The research appears in the June 9 journal Cell.
"The incentives to use both types of cell in comparative studies are high," says Jason Owen-Smith, a sociologist at University of Michigan. He notes the science behind adult stem cells that can be "reprogrammed," called human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), is still in its infancy, having become widely available in 2007.
"As a result, induced pluripotent stem cells do not offer an easy solution to the difficult ethical questions surrounding embryonic stem cell research," he says.
Pluripotent stem cells are those capable of differentiating into any type of tissue, hence the attractiveness of embryonic stem cells, or hESCs, also called ES cells, which are also pluripotent.
The researchers examined stem cell research papers published between 1998 and 2010. They found the proportion of papers using human adult and human embryonic stem cells together is growing faster than those using adult stem cells alone.
In 2008, only 15 or 5.1 percent of all papers examined in the study reported using adult stem cells, and only three of those papers combined the use of human adult and human embryonic stem cells. By 2010, some 161 of 574 or 28 percent of papers reported on studies of both cell technologies, and 62.1 percent of those papers paired adult and embryonic cell lines.
Because use of the two cell types has become so intertwined, any federal policy that would deny funding for embryonic stem cell research "would derail work with a nascent and exciting technology," says Owen-Smith.
If federal funding stops for human embryonic stem cell research, it would have a serious negative impact on adult stem cell research, says Stanford University bioethicist Christopher Scott, one of the paper's co-authors. "We may never be able to choose between iPS and ES cell research because we don't know which type of cell will be best for eventual therapies."
"The whole point with science policy is to have a more scientific basis to understand the impacts of policy decisions on science if and when those decisions are made," says Lane
In addition to NSF, this research was funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health, and the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine.
-NSF-
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2010, its budget is about $6.9 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives over 45,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes over 11,500 new funding awards. NSF also awards over $400 million in professional and service contracts yearly.
Mitt intresse i detta ämne grundlades under min tid i Göteborg då jag fick tillfällen att lyssna på många relativt lättfattliga populärvetenskapliga föreläsningar. Göteborg (Sahlgrenska) var också, och är väl fortfarande något av stamcellsforskningens stora platser.
Populärvetenskapliga föreläsningar av alla de slag är f.ö. något jag saknar i min kommun efter min tid i Göteborg. Å andra sidan är skidterrängen betydligt bättre här (liksom dricksvattnet).
Stig Östlund
Bloggarkiv
-
▼
2011
(7533)
-
▼
juni
(672)
- Good Night
- UK enters strike chaos: 750,000 public workers wal...
- Copa América
- Wine and Global Warming - Climate & Energy - Woods...
- Senate confirms Gen. David Petraeus as CIA chief
- World Cup Will Not Help Women's Fight for Equality...
- Copa América
- 'Transformers' 3 has biggest day at box office for...
- MSNBC Suspends Analyst For Calling Obama a “Dick”
- Bin Laden is dead, but al-Qaeda is not
- Ingen rubrik
- Cesc Fábregas till FC Barcelona?
- Massive anti-austerity protests in UK
- OSCAR I and Amateur Radio Satellites: Celebrating ...
- Chile
- Most Distant Quasar Found
- New England Journal of Medicin: http://www.nejm.org/
- The final launch of the space shuttle program is s...
- Eurons framtid
- (Av någon anledning har den svenska tågtrafiken ut...
- The New Sweden - Dagens kniv
- The New Sweden - Dagens pang-pang
- Nickel Prices Continue to Slide
- Avastin not effective for breast cancer
- Field Management Reforms to Reduce Costs and Enhan...
- Myspace to be sold for $35 million
- Sale el sol para Nadal
- Stiff Sediments Made 2004 Sumatra Earthquake Deadl...
- Cooperative Robots That Learn = Less Work for Huma...
- Obama: 'Choose Tax Cuts for Billionaires, or Food ...
- El Wasl:s nye tränare
- Greece : Protest Riots Violence Before Key Austeri...
- A low pressure area develop into a full-fledged tr...
- Tumörcellsdödande mekanismer kartlagda
- Greek Parliament Votes in Favor of Austerity Plan,...
- Scientists Study Earthquake Triggers in Pacific Ocean
- Greklands parlament har röstat ja till åtstramning...
- Shuttle Atlantis ready to fly July 8: NASA
- The blood pressure
- Ingen rubrik
- Storbritanniens premiärminister Cameron sex-skämtar
- EU-landet Grekland igår
- Good Night
- Det fantastiska Södertälje
- Ingen rubrik
- River Plate
- Notre-Dame reste le monument le plus visité de Paris
- Företrädesrätt
- The New Sweden - Dagens pang-pang
- Greece today
- Cologne Cathedral has been on UNESCO's lis...
- Din insyn som bostadsköpare ökar, och kraven skärp...
- France’s Lagarde Named New Head of I.M.F.
- Vattenpiprökning kan ge allvarlig kolmonoxidförg...
- Scientists a step closer to understanding 'natural...
- Grattis Hasse Alfredsson och tack för gången tid.
- If your preschooler can't sleep -- turn off the vi...
- Justices Reject Ban on Violent Video Games for Chi...
- Kan mångkulturella teaterprojekt verkligen främja ...
- Under det grekiska bordet
- Oil Price, Today and Tomorrow
- "Måste ses"
- Good Night
- Remarks by the President welcoming the MLS Champio...
- Whitey Bulger stashed tons of cash in Santa Monica...
- Blagojevich convicted on 17 corruption charges
- Michele Bachmann launches presidential bid
- Ingen rubrik
- News (Al Jazeera) 03:35 UTC
- Saab-skojeriet
- Europeans Most Open to Those With Intellectual Dis...
- Seagull 'steals' video camera
- Belgrano es de primavera
- Cordoba (Atlético de Belgrano) i går kväll och i natt
- En annan sida av det hela
- Fotbollshistoria
- Wimbledon
- The New Sweden - Dagens pang-pang
- Alexander Skarsgård sinks fangs into 'Blood,' feat...
- From Jerusalem
- River Plate
- Brottslighet bland invandrare borde oroa alla partier
- USA Vs Mexico 2-4 - All Goals & Match Highlights -...
- WOW
- California a treasure trove for presidential candi...
- FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending Jun...
- NEW YORK TIMES TODAY
- Six confirmed dead in Amtrak crash
- Direktsänd fotboll (för lirarvänner) på TV idag
- Ett "A-landslag" i världsklass
- News (Al Jazeera) 03:35 UTC (GMT) - 05.35 SET
- China's premiere arrives in the UK
- New York Times
- Mexico beats the U.S. in Gold Cup final
- U21-EM
- Sportkommentatorn Sven ”Plex” Petersson har avlidi...
- Michelle Obama
- James Watt and Our World, an exhibition at the Sci...
- Sixty Die As Car Bomb Explodes In Afghanistan
- Reich: What's Really Wrong With the Economy
-
▼
juni
(672)