Inita Organ
Inita Organ and her Medical Research Team
You group will answer the following questions playing the role of Inita Organ, a girl with a rare pancreatic disease, and her family. Her family is asking your medical team if they are willing to try and regenerate replacement pancreatic cells using the method of SCNT or thearapeutic cloning. The transplant list is years in the waiting for a pancreas and this method "might" help with rejection issues.You will use the answers to these questions to formulate your 2-3 minute presentation or commercial. By the end of your presentation, it should be clear where your group "stands" on the "Big Question". Remember, all scientists/doctors might not agree with eachother. Will your medical team try this method?
1. Research and explain briefly two current research studies or clinical trials involving stem cells. It might be helpful to make a chart to organize your response...summarize the type of stem cell used, the general nature of the experiment or research, and the outcome of the experiment. ( Hint: go to the trials and research page- scroll down to the link on the lower left side )
2. What potential/future hope is there with stem cell research? Mention three specific diseases, what these diseases are caused from , and how stem cell therapy could possibly help. It might be helpful to make a chart to organize your response.
3. Under president Bush's administration, federal funding for hESC research was limited to 22 cell lines. President Obama lifted this ban on federal funding. As a medical research scientist, how do these changes in federal funding impact your research.... does your team feel as though SCNT should be federally funded? (currently, SCNT is not)
4. Describe how stem cells are created from cloned embryos (SCNT). Why does this method have an immunological advantage? Be sure to identify how this method differs from embryos donated by IVF.
5.What is done to SCNT embryos after they are extracted of their stem cells? What ethical issues do SCNT embryos create?( It might be helpful to have a chart in your presentation to explain the difference between SCNT and hESC from donated IVF embryos)
6. As a medical scientist, how do you feel about the following statement? "science moves fast--a lot faster than we do in the legislative arena."
7. As scientists, what restrictions, if any do you feel there should be on SCNT research ? Since it uses human eggs as part of the process, many fear that human eggs will become a research commodity and may cause further ethical issues surrounding the area off human egg donation. (Thousands and thousands of eggs are needed for this research..woman are paid to donate these eggs.) Comment on this.
8. Research and discuss any examples of studies that have been done using therapeutic cloning/regenerative medicine. Maybe mention the labs in the US that are studying this process and the work they are doing.
9. Create a chart comparing adult stem cells, embryonic stem cells, iPS stem cells and SCNT cells. You must include: origin of these cells, if they are multi, pluri- "potent", pro of these cells (+), con of these cells (-).
1. Research and explain briefly two current research studies or clinical trials involving stem cells. It might be helpful to make a chart to organize your response...summarize the type of stem cell used, the general nature of the experiment or research, and the outcome of the experiment. ( Hint: go to the trials and research page- scroll down to the link on the lower left side )
2. What potential/future hope is there with stem cell research? Mention three specific diseases, what these diseases are caused from , and how stem cell therapy could possibly help. It might be helpful to make a chart to organize your response.
3. Under president Bush's administration, federal funding for hESC research was limited to 22 cell lines. President Obama lifted this ban on federal funding. As a medical research scientist, how do these changes in federal funding impact your research.... does your team feel as though SCNT should be federally funded? (currently, SCNT is not)
4. Describe how stem cells are created from cloned embryos (SCNT). Why does this method have an immunological advantage? Be sure to identify how this method differs from embryos donated by IVF.
5.What is done to SCNT embryos after they are extracted of their stem cells? What ethical issues do SCNT embryos create?( It might be helpful to have a chart in your presentation to explain the difference between SCNT and hESC from donated IVF embryos)
6. As a medical scientist, how do you feel about the following statement? "science moves fast--a lot faster than we do in the legislative arena."
7. As scientists, what restrictions, if any do you feel there should be on SCNT research ? Since it uses human eggs as part of the process, many fear that human eggs will become a research commodity and may cause further ethical issues surrounding the area off human egg donation. (Thousands and thousands of eggs are needed for this research..woman are paid to donate these eggs.) Comment on this.
8. Research and discuss any examples of studies that have been done using therapeutic cloning/regenerative medicine. Maybe mention the labs in the US that are studying this process and the work they are doing.
9. Create a chart comparing adult stem cells, embryonic stem cells, iPS stem cells and SCNT cells. You must include: origin of these cells, if they are multi, pluri- "potent", pro of these cells (+), con of these cells (-).
Resources
CNN Politics: Stem Cell Funding ( Obama 2009)
Clinical Trials.gov - search "stem cells" NPR: Cloned Human Embryo 2013 What is Cloning? - learn genetics Utah |