WHAT CAN STEM CELLS DO?

You may have heard of stem cells before, but there is a lot of mystery about what they actually … do. Why is this such a promising new field?


Life Noggin is a weekly animated educational series. Whether it's science, pop culture, history or art, we explore it all and have a ton of fun doing it.

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[-kedamonoinabox-]

"The lung cell will always be a lung cell and will never be a red blood cell." Don't crush their dreams, they have feelings

[kendrabeewings]

I was born with a cleft lip and pallette leaving no bone where one of my front four teeth should be. In order to get a dental implant, you need bone to attach it to. Bone transplant didn't work. Not enough blood flow. But a new technology was developed in the last few years that recruited my body's own bone stem cells to build bone in the region, and now I have a dental implant and healthy bone to stick it to. How cool is that? 10 years ago it was just a dream.

[marcmckenzie]

My life continues largely due to the vast generosity of blood stem-cell donors and birthmothers, and every single day without exception I awake and have deep gratitude to them.  On May 17, 2017 during a visit to a local emergency room due to passing a kidney stone, a standard CT scan discovered what was swiftly diagnosed as Stage IV Very Aggressive Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma / Diffuse Large B Cell.  This means the cells that normally kill cancer, B- cells, became the cancer cells.  Almost all my treatment journey was experimental in one way or another.  I endured 5 cycles of a very strong chemotherapy in FDA trials, thought cancer was in remission only for the exact same cancer to come back with fury to kill me.  We tried multiple desperate chemo protocols, each one more viscous that the previous protocol and none of them worked.  Ultimately a radiation oncologist (cancer doctor who uses radiation instead of poison) wiped out the cancer in 25 days.  A bevy of specialists agreed my only hope was to kill all my blood and marrow, bring me to the very brink of death, and then do a blood transplant of stem-cells.  Mine came from two infant birth cords donated after delivery by the birth mother.  Two, because the volume was very, very small - one was 51 ml, the other 49 ml.  Then over the following five weeks the cells woke up, fought a three way ware to see which genetic set would dominate, and the winner engrafted in my bone marrow, forever more giving me new blood including that which feeds my immune system.  Including, for example, new healthy B-cells ready to go kill cancer.

That's the glorious part of the story.  But, I also have gone through a year of graft vs host disease (my new blood and immune system trying to kill that alien... no wait, thats me!), and through the whole thing I believe based on research I am the all time global record holder for most corticosteroids given in three years.  Prednisone has been part of every chemo routine, part of radiation, used after cancer surgeries and hell, everything else.  So I've spent two years getting off steroids.  While I had all those steroids I have developed type II diabetes, severe hypertension, chronic kidney disease, added 80 lbs I can't lose, terrible edema all over, skin diseases and last month the worst case of shingles my local hospital has ever encountered.

So I believe in stem-cell transplants, but I also think there is  a huge amount not communicated that I'd love to share with Life Noggin or anyone else interested in furthering research and patient education in this area.  

And be glad you are alive.  Choose to be happy.  Make this hour count.

[bluedestroyer]

And I picked this for my research paper last week what great timing

[aaaaaaaaaaaa]

I don't feel much if something dies.
I feel bad for something dies if it experiences consiousness.

[polraudiozion]

So if donating eggs is bad then having periods is bad also because its literally the same thing. So i guess every time someone has a period they are killing someone. With that logic every woman should go to jail :(.

[Seeker]

We were just about to make this video! 




*violently shakes fists into the air*

[marvellousmaths]

My aunt had bone marrow cancer and the marrow had to be destroyed but then was replaced with stem cells

[just_arandom_guy]

This channel deserves more subscribers. Keep it up!

[Lhouse]

Just had a High school Biology flashback. I had a quiz on this stuff, it was matching and I studied for it. I got a 4 out of 100

[aguspuig]

Man this vid is 8 years old and somehow it feels like nothing has come of this

[AmaRegenMed]

These cells are quite special because they can divide and differentiate, creating new tissues, cells, and even an entire organ. Adult stem cells have been used in human treatments and therapies for many years.

[Timmering]

I donated my hair to cancer... Twice, not very impressive 😕 but my hair used to go all the way down to my hip but not its down to my neck :) and I did I twice :) I'm still pretty happy that I helped someone xD

[Rah]

Wow, I finally did it. Under 301! Where's my cookie?

[XregularC]

I believe stem cells might be the first thing used to stop, or reverse, aging. Imagine farming stem cells with a young, healthy version of your DNA. When you get older maybe somehow you could (possibly during a very slow and safe procedure) replace your old cells with new cells with a younger, healthier version of your own DNA. I don't know why this wouldn't work so though it sounds crazy I think this could work, do you?

[cwcorella]

Wait, why is there still controversy? During menstruation females lose unfertilized egg cells; a process which occurs throughout their lifetime, only ceasing when menopause sets in, or stops temporarily when fertilization of an egg is achieved.

We would never consider that process to be murder. Why is the _voluntary_ use of female eggs as a means to attain embryonic stem cells thought of as such, where they'd otherwise go unused in the monthly reproductive cycle?

[prabhghumaan]

Yes my bone marrow transplant was done last year

[ComBOT]

well, no one argues if eating an egg is destroying a life ( i think), so what are we doing arguing about that

[Soraviel]

i have never had my bone marrow/blood cell/stem cells donated to other folks lmao

[nahima]

Ooo had a test recently and this was part of the topic. Biology module 1. 😏