Stem Cells - Preventing, Treating And Curing Disease

Question 1

What are stem cells? Where are they found?

Answer 1

Undifferentiated cells that can turn into different differentiated cells
Can be found in early human embryos (embryonic stem cells)
Adults have stem cells found in places like bone marrow.
Adult stem cells can only produce certain types of specialised cells, e.g blood cell
Stem cells can be cloned in a lab, which can be used in medicine or research.

Question 2

How may stem cells cure disease?

Answer 2

Embryonic stem cells could be used to replace faulty cells in sick people, e,g become insulting producing cells or nerve cells for those with paralysis
Possible rot make embryos with same genes as patient - therapeutic cloning , to prevent rejection from body
However, stem cells could be infected with a virus making patient sicker

Question 3

How can stem cells produce identical plants?

Answer 3

Plants have meristems where growth occurs - roots and shoots
Contains stem cells which can differentiate into other cells, through plants entire life
Can be used to clone,