Is stem cell research hard?

Is stem cell research hard?

However, human stem cells can be difficult to obtain and manipulate; experiments on human embryonic stem cells often require oversight by ethics boards and face funding restrictions, so new techniques tend to be developed first in mouse cells and then adapted to human ones.

What does a stem cell biologist do?

In the Stem Cell Biology program, investigators are studying the natural life cycle of human embryonic stem cells. They use human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to understand disorders of blood-making organs, known as the hematopoietic system.

What do you study for stem cell research?

Medical Scientist Education Requirements Students interested in becoming a cellular scientist major in fields like molecular biology. Molecular biologists study DNA sequencing, genetic expression and variation, which is helpful in understanding stem-cell research.

Who is interested in stem cell research?

Scientists are investigating how stem cells form tissues and organs, how aging impacts their function and their role in various diseases and conditions. A better understanding of the inner working of living organisms leads to earlier detection, better diagnosis and more effective treatments for diseases and injury.

Why are you interested in stem cells?

Scientists and doctors are interested in stem cells as they help to explain how some functions of the body work, and how they sometimes go wrong. Stem cells also show promise for treating some diseases that currently have no cure.

Why do scientists want to research stem cells?

Researchers and doctors hope stem cell studies can help to: Increase understanding of how diseases occur. By watching stem cells mature into cells in bones, heart muscle, nerves, and other organs and tissue, researchers and doctors may better understand how diseases and conditions develop.

Why do scientists want to use stem cell lines?

Scientists want to have a variety of stem cell lines so that they can pick the best ones for their experiments. Some lines are better suited for becoming pancreatic cells, others for neurons (no one is sure why). Moreover, older cell lines are harder to grow, and many contain mutations and chromosomal abnormalities.

How much does a stem cell researcher make?

Stem cell researchers hired by private firms can average $110,000 per year (source). You can also bump up your salary a bit by better researching the best places to do your research. In Maryland, for example, researchers make an average $77,000 per year.

Why are stem cells good for research?

Given their unique regenerative abilities, stem cells offer new potentials for treating diseases such as diabetes, and heart disease. Research on stem cells continues to advance knowledge about how an organism develops from a single cell and how healthy cells replace damaged cells in adult organisms.

Why do scientist want to use stem cells?

Cell therapies would use stem cells, or cells grown from stem cells, to replace or rejuvenate damaged tissue. Scientists also want to use stem cells to understand disease and find drugs that might treat it. Embryonic stem cells could be used to make more specialized tissues that have been lost to disease and injury.

Why is stem cell research important?

Stem cell research is one of the most fascinating areas of contemporary biology, but, as with many expanding fields of scientific inquiry, research on stem cells raises scientific questions as rapidly as it generates new discoveries. Can doctors use stem cells to treat patients?

What is the primary goal of research on embryonic stem cells?

A primary goal of research on embryonic stem cells is to learn how undifferentiated stem cells turn into differentiated stem cells that form specific tissues and organs. Researchers are also interested in figuring out how to control this process of differentiation.

Can we control how stem cells turn into other types of cells?

Researchers are currently focusing on finding ways to control how stem cells turn into other types of cells. A primary goal of research on embryonic stem cells is to learn how undifferentiated stem cells turn into differentiated stem cells that form specific tissues and organs.

Where do stem cells come from and how are they used?

Scientists have also shown that stem cells reside in most tissues of the body and research continues to learn how to identify, extract, and proliferate these cells for further use in therapy. Scientists hope to yield therapies for diseases such as type I diabetes and repair of heart muscle following heart attack.