The Future is Pluripotent!!!!

Well as I was reading a little about the semi-disastrous state of the stimulus package put together by some of the most impressive economic minds of our time, I ran into a gem of information! President Obama, of whom I am a big fan, in response to a question about the current ban on stem cell research, "the president promised to sign an executive order to do so. Obama said he wants to coordinate with House and Senate leadership to craft an executive order - based on science, fact and reason -- strong enough to avoid a quick reversal." (CNN.com)

What does this mean for us? My support for stem cell research is based on my complete, unwavering belief in that a fertilized egg that is allowed to divide until there are 64 cells is not at all a life, a person, a living organism, and especially anything that has the "right to life".

The religious resistance to this belief is pervasive in our American society. The majority of us are God fearing individuals that see this life as a gift from a superior being. With life as a gift we are taught to respect it and preserve it at all costs. But the real meat of the debate comes when we try and nail down the moment in time where nothing becomes something, when nobody becomes somebody.

With out addressing all points of view, something everyone should research before you think you have a strong opinion about something, I would just say that I believe that true human value is achieved sometime during the third trimester. I feel that it is morally wrong to abort a fetus after 20 weeks but I still think there isn't enough developed to support a spirit yet.

With the cells produced within the first week of development, we have something absolutely amazing. The cells produced are not liver cells, nerve cells, skin cells, or any "type" of cells. We call them pluripotent cell which means they have the potential to become any type of cell our body needs! You could say that kids are pluripotent because their whole lives are ahead of them and the possibilities are endless!

So what's the big deal? Here are a few things that we want to know. We want to study these new cells to learn the secrets of how the cells decide to differentiate (become specialized cells). Learning that mechanism would enable us to take adult stem cells and push them into the right direction. If a diabetic needed new pancreatic cells to correct the insulin issues of his disease, we would take some stem cells from him and push the cells to become pancreatic cells. But the real beauty of this is that the cells would not be rejected like transplants are nowadays. They would be genetically identical to the person! We also want to learn how to get the cells to become specialized but also to create the entire organ, like a heart or liver. We are a long ways away from doing anything like that though. But curing diabetes could be a very real possibility within a decade or two.

All this can be realized with enough research and trial and error. Federal support of reasearch is so powerful. Money is what keeps people working. The brilliant scientist still has to eat and take care of his family. Funding for research on stem cells will catapult the USA into the exciting future of medical miracles such as cures for genetic diseases, therapy for paralysis, and could give us unimaginable possibilities for extending and improving life everywhere. I'll have to type something less "bloggy" about stem cell research if enough people want a good educational paper. I'm just so excited that we have a president with the right mentality for this kind of issue. He said "he'd rather do what's right and serve one term than just do what's politically good and be a mediocre president and get to serve two terms." I'm diggin that.