What are stem cells and why are they important in research?
In: Biology
stem cells are cells that are not specialized yet. If you took a liver tissue sample from your body and cultured it in a lab (let it duplicate) you would get more liver cells, you couldn’t turn them into any other type of cells. If you took stem cells, with the right inputs you could turn them into whatever cells you wanted to including nerve cells which could help people who have spinal cord injuries walk again, you could grow new skin cells so burn patients wouldn’t have to graft skin from other parts of their bodies, you could repair brain damage, etc.
The controversy is fetal tissue is a very good source to harvest stem cells.
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