• Question: We know that stem cells are still a mystery but if you do succeed with your research, what could you do with this new type of medicine?

    Asked by nierosen04 to Sharon, Kara, Jayne, James, Emma on 24 Mar 2011 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Sharon Sneddon

      Sharon Sneddon answered on 14 Mar 2011:

      Hi, and thanks for your great question!

      It is hoped that in the future, embryonic stem cells could be used as a source of cells and tissues that could be used for transplants into people who have diseased or damaged organs. At the moment, this is already being done with people who have bone marrow transplants, as the cells in the bone marrow are a type of blood stem cells. However, blood stem cells can only really make blood cells, but embryonic stem cells can make lots of different types of cells, so we think they would be really useful for lots of different types of transplants.

      In my lab, I also use stem cells from the breast in lots of different experiments to try and understand why sometime breast cancer spreads around the body. I then try and make this process stop using different drugs and treatments and it is hoped that in the future, these things could be used on patients. It takes a lot of experiments and time for this to happen, which is why we need lots of scientists working on stem cells and cancer!

      You are right though, a lot about stem cells is still a mystery to us scientists so thats why we need to work hard to figure out the mysteries!
      Hope this answers your question!

    • Photo: Kara Cerveny

      Kara Cerveny answered on 18 Mar 2011:

      My research was really based on understanding the key step in a stem cell’s life — to make more copies of itself or to differentiate (in my case, I was studying how/when/why stem cells become neurons). This type of research is designed to help us understand retinal stem cells in their natural environment, providing foundations for the next step of treatments for cancers (when cells proliferate to much) or degenerative diseases (when cells don’t proliferate enough or die prematurely and hopefully can be replaced).

    • Photo: Emma King

      Emma King answered on 18 Mar 2011:

      Hi nierosen04, thanks for your question. I don’t work in the lab so I’m more concerned with stem cell research as a whole rather than a specific part of it. I think that some of the new research that is currently happening will have really good impacts – such as two trials going on at the moment to help stroke victims or those with spinal cord injuries. I also work with a team of scientists trying to grow red blood cells so that we don’t need blood donors any more – which I think is a really exciting technology!
      And don’t forget that bone marrow transplants are a stem cell therapy that have already been used for many years.
      So I think stem cell research has the ability to help in lots of different diseases, and also may allow us to test drugs more effectively to make better conventional medicines.
      What do you think stem cells could do?

    • Photo: James Chan

      James Chan answered on 18 Mar 2011:

      Hi neirosen, thanks for this important question.
      In my research, I am looking at how to speed up the healing of broken bones. Millions of people around the world break their bones everyday (u probably know people who have had fractures), and some of these do not heal properly, especially people who have had nasty accidents and been run over by cars or stepped onto bombs, and also elderly people whose bones are really fragile. Many of these patients become disabled as a result, and in others, they may even need an amputation where their legs get chopped off.

      If we can speed up and improve bone healing, we can hopefully get all these people on their feet again. We have had a recent breakthrough where we have found a way of doing this on mice. So our next step is to try this out in humans and see if it works! We’re really excited about this, and we hope you are too!

    • Photo: Jayne Charnock

      Jayne Charnock answered on 24 Mar 2011:

      Hi nierosen04

      we are unraveling the mystery all the time, its pretty exciting stuff. For my lab, understanding more about how stem cells function in the body normally means we can understand better what happens when it all goes wrong and we get ill. the cells that are responsible for your immune system start out as stem cells, but sometimes they dont behave properly, for example in wounds that dont heal. we are trying to understand why and how we could fix these cells and possibly develop a cure, based on correctly functioning stem cells

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