Thread: "ethical" stem cells approved

stem cells... hahha, always reminds me of the south park episode with christopher reeves and his baby eating.

you want something impressive look into Nutrigenomics and epigenetics. If advances are made here, I think it could be more beneficial than poo poo stem cells. We are developing "personalized nutrition" based off genotype, phenotype, gender, age, lifestyle(Physical activity) ect.

Its real basic right now, only based of a few SNP's, but its advancing fast... there are already a few companies you can send in a DNA sample and they can tell you if you have certain polymorphisms in your DNA that make you more likely to get Cancer, etc..

Originally Posted by hawgballs

Originally Posted by SmokenSherriff_

Taking embryonic stem cells you are essentially aborting babies.

No it isn't. It is taking cells from an embryo...... Which isn't a baby, yet.

right. it seems people think these cells come out of abortions or something. They don't. I think at that stage, a formed fetus isn't even remotely as useful as would be if it was an earlier glob of dividing cells, such as these in the dish and frozen vials.

The reality is......these cells exist. They are merely unused doses of baby, waiting to be injected into a mother's uterus. A large surplus of them...more than any one mother would want for herself. So....what to do with them? Frozen cells. Tubes. Not frozen 6" long babies. We're talking a few dozen cells, maybe a few hundred or a thousand here and there (before expansion).

Those are babies? If the power goes out, and the nitrogen tanks leak....and all the vials thaw.....that company gets charged with negligently murdering 10,000,000 babies? Sued for wrongful death? Criminally negligent involuntary manslaughter?

come on....

(even though I bet that's happened.....vials getting dropped, or left out, or misplaced/lost, or....thawed.....I wonder what they were charged, or sued for)

Originally Posted by ALPINESTAR

Its real basic right now, only based of a few SNP's, but its advancing fast... there are already a few companies you can send in a DNA sample and they can tell you if you have certain polymorphisms in your DNA that make you more likely to get Cancer, etc..

and?

epigenetics to do what? demethylate your DNA?

Personal, full-genome sequencing is already available (for a price). All you're talking about is earlier forms of diagnosis. Not living forever. Stem cells win.

Epigenetics is not totally understood like most everything. It really is changes you make on your own DNA by your lifestyle(like if you smoke or not for an example). Yes, it really just involves certain places in your DNA that can be methylated or demethylated (or acetylation and de-acetylation), that change you chromatin structure for better or worse.. Basically all the research is done on identical twins.. It really is important because you pass it along in your offspring tho.

But hey all areas of modern medicine advances are gravy in my book.

Ya the shit they call personal genome sequencing is what they are tying to sell as "personalized diets" and shit.. It really isnt based off anything other than nucleotide markers that they know of...KNOW OF.

They dnt know shit yet. More to come .... more to come.

For sure its not a way to live forever.. If stem cells really can accomplish this (they cant) then yes stem cells "win"

Originally Posted by ALPINESTAR

For sure its not a way to live forever.. If stem cells really can accomplish this (they cant) then yes stem cells "win"

shows what (or who) you know.

full genome sequencing isn't looking for markers. It's the every nucleotide, sequenced, on every chromosome. The whole potatoe. Not some genetic counseling program.

Of course, all you can do with such data is compare it to know mutations, look for carrier genes and issues. Imprinting. Copy numbers. All sorts of things that certainly matter a lot more when "passed on".

Further, you don't pass on your methylation to your offspring. When the sperm and egg combine, the DNA is unmethylated, and starts with a clean slate, more or less. This is the big setback for cloning (using adult skin tissue/stomach lining/whatever) to make a baby by using the old cell's DNA inside an empty egg with no DNA.

It works.....but the issue is the clone is born with the DNA of the previous owner at the methylation and other epigenetic "age" it was when it was harvested. So....they start to suffer prematurely (or, right on time, depending on how you look at it) from diseases related to this aging of the DNA.

All that's pie in the sky. Showing off, and getting people to buy a product. It's like getting a CT being so much better than an MRI, or an Xray. Sure....it is. But it's not the dramatic improvement or leap in medicine that it's made out to be. It's just another/better way to see what's going on inside of us, just like Xray's were a step up from having to cut into people or squeeze on them to feel what's under their skin.

Stem cells........are NOT this kind of improvement in existing technology/methods. If you banked some of your bone marrow now (assuming you're under 30). Or if every 5 years, you want and banked a few million HSC's or MSC's here and there (stem cells).....later in life, when you hit 40 or 50, for example....you start taking expanded infusions of these cells....and it would be like if you could take out your heart now, and give it back to yourself in 30 years. Those cells are going to go and do what they're programmed to do: replace slow, dead, or dying cells, and make you live better, longer.

It's legit, man. And it's not the over-hyped, "personalized medicine" junk going on in commercials and cookie cutter seminars here and there. Sure, personalizing my chemo to my genome and my specific biopsied tumor will be great. But we're talking about drug selection and dose optimization. In some cases.....that's going to make a big difference. In MOST cases, given how homogenous humans actually are, and how much data exists to determine proper doses and drug uses.....it's not going to make a big difference, or even be necessary to utilize.

Except of course for the fact people will pay for it. Like a flu shot. Cough.

See, its so entertaining and informative to read the analysis of someone who actually knows what the facts, subtleties and full explanation is.

ya Im deff excited to see what the possibilities of stem cells are. Sounds badass..for the rich haha. But hey thas how life is.

From what I understand is after about 40 or 50 we stop replacing our dieing cells like when we were a baby/adolescent/ young adult?

So if you bank your own stem cells now, and you have a lot of money, you can began your "Lazarus pit" treatments?

Fuck yea im down

oh and for those who don't know the Lazarus pit...



THE MIND BEHIND STEM CELLS!!!

Ra's al Ghul !!!!