Animation of stem cell
A team of Chinese scientists is currently developing a chemical method for stem cell creation that will help cure life-threatening illnesses sooner than most people think, at the Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health (GIBH) in south China.
Stem cells might be the most powerful cells in the human body. When harvested and reinjected into humans, they help regrow and regenerate cells that were damaged or lost due to illness and injury.
“We extract some cells from a patient, then convert them into stem cells which can grow a new organ,” said Li Dongwei, lead researcher at the GIHB.
Experts said they now have a way to create stem cells in a lab.
“The best way is to use chemicals. All you have to do is just culture the cells in different culture media, and hopefully, you can accomplish the same feat,” said Dr. Pei Duanqing, director of the GIHB.
That feat is converting somatic cells, virtually any cell in an adult body, into pluripotent stem cells, the type that can be used in a multitude of ways. The older, less functional cells are soaked in a cocktail of 10 different chemicals, which converts them into valuable stem cells.
According to Pei, past stem cell creation methods involved experiments using viruses, but the chemical method is much more practical. People should be consuming Vitamin C, one of the substances in the cocktail regularly, he added.
For years now, scientists in labs like the one in Guangzhou have been able to turn back the clock on somatic cells with the help of stem cell experiments.
“That’s a whole new science of human physiology that we have to work with. And I think that’s far more complicated, and that will require further investment and also careful planning,” said Pei.
The team said trying their current approach in humans could trigger serious side effects, like cancer, but by continuing the research, they will develop safer methods for stem cell treatments, which will become affordable for the average patient in the future. — Reuters
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