Study Guide to 3 Stem Cell articles from 2007! 

New York Times article by N. Wade

1.    When exactly was this article written? (mo/day/year)                                               _________________
2.    With what body tissue & species did these researchers work?       ___________    _________________
3.     If successful, why would the recipient of an organ made by this method NOT tend to reject the implanted
        material?  ________________________________________________________________________
4.    Describe the "traditional" practice of therapeutic cloning to produce stem cells?
        _______________________________________________________________________________
5.   How does Dr. Yamanaka's Kyoto U. technique accomplish reprogramming a skin cell backwards in time
        to mimic an embryonic stem cells?      __________________________________________________
        _______________________________________________________________________________
6.     Why would the Kyoto therapeutic cloning technique be ethically welcomed by both the scientific and other
        communities?  ____________________________________________________________________
7.    When were human embryonic stem cells first generated in a lab setting?                       _______________
8.    What was President G. W. Bush's compromise on the use of human embryonic stem cells for medical
        research?   _______________________________________________________________________
9.    If in therapeutic cloning, a nucleus from a mature body cell is injected into a now nucleus free egg, where
        should the "mysterious chemicals" be located that "will reprogram the injected nucleus" onto the path of
        transforming the cell into an embryonic cell?  
        (The answer is NOT in the reading, but please think it through!)

BBC article

10.   When exactly was this article written? (mo/day/year)                                              _________________
11.   In which countries were the two teams with stem cell breakthroughs located?  _________ & _________
12.   How many types of tissues are found in the human body?  (Hint, there is no such thing as a one of kind
        cell in the body with the possible exception of the ovum (egg cell).      ___________________________
13.   The Japanese team transferred how many genes (obviously genes are proteins) to transform human
        adult cells?                                                                                                                        ___________
14.   Which type of human tissue did the Japanese team select as donor tissue?                          ___________
15.   What two types of tissues did the Japanese team differentiate from the quasi-embryonic stem cells?
                                                                                                                            __________ &_________
16.   How did the researchers know that they had indeed differentiated cardiac tissues?   ________________
17.   How many new stem cell lines the the US team (Yes Wisconsin has been annexed by the U.S.) develop
        for potential tissue differentiation studies?                                                                            __________
18.   Why is there little chance of rejection of tissues (and hopefully soon organs) developed by these new
        techniques starting with skin cells?   ____________________________________________________
19.   A vector is an organism which transmits another organism.  The wood tick is a common vector for the
        bacteria which causes Lyme Disease.  What is the vector which both the US & Japanese teams used to
        transfer genes into adult cells then causing the adult cells to regress to embryonic like states?  __________
20.   What is the name of the new technique pioneered by the two research teams?  ________ ____________
21.   Why is the older therapeutic cloning technique so controversial? _______________________________
        _______________________________________________________________________________

  Web MD article

22.   Define the term "pluripotent" as it related to stem cells?
        _______________________________________________________________________________
23.   Why is the Nuclear Reprogramming technique considered such a research breakthrough over the older
        therapeutic cloning method?   _________________________________________________________
24.   Define the term "somatic cell" as it relates to skin cells?  _____________________________________
25.   What is the danger of using the stated type of vector to carry genes into somatic cells for their nuclear
        reprogramming?  (State the type of vector in your answer!)   __________________________________
        _______________________________________________________________________________
26.   Why does the author suggest we should not abandon therapeutic cloning techniques for pharmaceutical
         research at this time?  ______________________________________________________________
27.   What were the two tissue sources of the Japanese team?          _______________ & ______________
28.   What were the two tissue sources of the Wisconsin team?        _______________ & ______________
                        The End