Explosion | Issue 10

There's a buzz and crackle in the air when it comes to the topic of stem cell research. Considered one of the newest and most exciting fields in medical research, the discoveries that await the world irresistibly whisper Medical Utopia!

When the search is over and the Holy Grail is attained – we could live in a possible future where organs are grown to replace damaged livers, irreparable spinal cords and malfunctioning kidneys. One day, debilitating diseases like cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, diabetes and heart disease might no longer exist. Instead the possibility of a world without physical pain and suffering becomes an actuality.

The key to unlock that vision of the future can all be found in the humble stem cell. When scientists are able to understand the mysteries of it, we will be able to change the face of medicine as we know it.

Stem Cells Defined

So what exactly are stem cells? They are the foundation cells that exist in every organ, tissue and cell of the body. Think of them as blank microchips that can ultimately be programmed to perform specialised tasks. Under proper conditions, they can generate healthy and functioning specialised cells, which can replace diseased cells.

The Challenges Faced

However, the challenge to reach medical nirvana is long and arduous. The first obstacle faced is the difficulty in identifying stem cells from adult tissues. Second, once stem cells are identified and isolated, the right conditions must be in place to cause these cells to differentiate into the specialised cells. For example, you can easily grow heart cells from stem cells, however the problem is you also get a host of other cells in there that you don’t want like bones cells. And then there is the issue of rejection, the body's immune cells might recognise transplanted cells as "foreign," setting off an immune reaction that could endanger the patient.

The Project

Lim Sai Kiang, group leader in the Genome Institute of Singapore and her team are working round-the-clock to discover the stem cell line to grow useful cells such as insulin-producing cells. Her work involves adding growth factors and chemicals to encourage the stem cell to mature in stages to become a specialised insulin-producing one.

Step-by-step Process

So for example to get a stem cell to specialise, there are several sequential intermediate progenitor cell stages it needs to hit before it gets to become a specialised one. By carefully adding the right growth factors at the right time, the stem cell can be coaxed to differentiate into a limited number of progenitor cell types at a time. Progenitor is like a precursor cell type to say your insulin-producing cell. Because the number of progenitor cell types are small, it is easier to isolate the progenitor cell type that can give rise to a specialised cell. Progenitor cell can be isolated by markers and then expanded for the differentiation into the next progenitor cell. The process is repeated until the specialised cell stage is reached.

"The challenges are many as we are essentially in uncharted territories. For example, what chemicals or growth factors to use? And when to use them? How do the progenitor cells look like? Fortunately, in the midst of many failures, we have some success in isolating progenitor cell types that could potentially generate blood vessels or insulin-secreting cells, and this has been very encouraging," says Lim Sai Kiang. It may be a long road to success, but it’s every step along the way that counts.

To know more visit www.isscr.org

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