- TECHNOLOGYlANGUAGEFOCUS
VieleernsthafterkrankteMenschensetzenihreHoffnungindieStammzellenforschung.KEJTHKEllY
undl..YuscwDoMBEVAerklären,wieeszurtherapeutischenWirkungdieserStammzellenkommt. 'Olm!.T
heword<'kd1"comesfromEnglishmanRoben
Hooke,thefirstpersonknowntohaveseen
theseminutebodiesundera self-mademicro-
scopein 1663.Microscopeslaterbecamepow-
erfulenoughCOshowtheorganelles,theinternalparts
ofthecell,andmodernelectrOllmicroscopes1l0Wal-
lawusrosrudyccJl ultrastructurcandthecelleyele.
l\'lostorganismsbegintheirlifeasa singlecell,thekr:
~egg.Thissinglecelldividcs(werandoveragain
tOproduecthebjllioosofcellsehatarepresentInthe
bad)'.Atsomepoint,mostcellssmpmakingcopiesof
themselvesaodstancospecialize.\Vhenrneorganism
isfullyforrned,almostallitseellsaresp<.-cialized.
Eaehtypeofcellhastypiealcbaracteristics,anda spe-
cializcdteamofcellsisa!lli..I.If..Musc1e,epithelialoe
nervoustissueeachcarryOuta specificjobinthebody.
A smallnumberofcellsineachtissllekeeptheability
tOdivideaodtOreplacedamagedordeadcells.These
arethcstem,,·Ils.Embrvonicstemcellscanproducealt
types oftissuein rhl.:: body,anability refcrred toas
toripotency.
StemcdlscanbetakenfromearlyelJlbryosoefroill
theumbiliqlcordofa newbornandcanbeuscdindi-
agnosis,researchorrnedicaltrcatmenr.Stemcdlsmight
oUeranswerstOtreacingandcuringmanyillnes'ies.or
evenprovidethekeytoslowingthenegativeeffecrsof
agcing. Bm theuse ofembryoniestern cellsraises
ethicalquesrionsandrCIIl:linswidelycootroversial.
68 BusinessSpoI!ighl
Everytimeasterncelldivides.it producestwo~
tercells,whichcaobeeithernewsterncellsorspccial-
izedeells.TheboJyhai>comakeoewsternce11seoncin-
ually,otherwiscwewouldlosethccapacitytomakc3ny
newcellsatall.Inadulttissues,sterncellscannormal-
Iyonlyproduccthetypeofce11inthattissue,soastel11
eellintheepithdiumcanmakeskincells,bmItcannot
makcbloodcellsoranyorhertypenfcd!.
Theepirheliumusesirssterncellscornakenewskin
cells,bec3usewcarecoostantlywcarin~awaythetop
laYtIoftheskin.Theabilitytogrowcellsis alsokeym
usingskintr;)osp1anrstotfeatpeoplewitb~hY.,rm.
Inthebloodsystem,millionsofnewbloodcellsare
needed(;veryday.Bloodsrerncellsarefoundinrhe~
marrow,andcanrnakeeightdifferenttypesofspecia-
lizedeells.Thesecel1sareknownasmultiporent.Stem-
cell researchcombinedwirheeoerjcengineerin~m:lY
lead(0theslKcessfultreatml.::ntofblooddisorderssuch
asleukaemja.
Nowthat we knowsterncells are presem in rhe
brainasweil,thereIShopethattreatmentmaybefound
forsevcecdegenerativediseasessuchasParkinson'sand
Al;r;heimcr's- ifscientistslearnhow 10 direcrstern-cell
divisionandspecializarionr6producenewnervecells.
lbeabilitytO~eneticallvmodifysterncellsmayaiso
providerhe aoswertopreventionandtreatmentof
hen:ditarydisea"CS.butmanypeoplcfcarthatthiscould
leadromiSliseofthctechnology.5/2009