Cells Reprogrammed to Treat Diabetes
Researchers from Georgetown University Medical Center have taken a step closer to curing diabetes. They have sperm cells can also be stem cells that then can be converted into insulin-producing cells. Ian Gallicano is a developmental biologist at Georgetown who is responsible for this discovery. He started by isolating a sperm cell and converting it back to its embryonic state. From there the cells can be made into cells from any part of the body. They then used chemicals to bring the cells to mimic beta-islet cells (cells in the pancreas). This is very important; these stem cells can then replace the cells in the pancreas that are infected with diabetes.
However they have be unsuccessful in making these cells produce a substantial amount of insulin. For now the can only sustain a mice’s insulin levels for about a week. To sustain a human the cells would need to produce much more insulin that is 10% of secretion by the pancreas cells.
Because the scientists have not reached their goal, the cure for diabetes, they continue to move toward their goal. These men are also looking for stem cells that would be beneficial to women with diabetes. This is because the cells derived from the testes are only useful to men with the disease. Gallicano does, however think that the trick’s they have already discovered in developing stem cells will lead his team to help women as well.
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/67513/title/Cells_reprogrammed_to_treat_diabetes
I felt Margaret wrote a great review of the article. There were a handful of things I felt were strong. She had a good overall summary of the article and explained the concepts presented very clearly. Margaret elaborated on the idea of cells assisting in the production of insulin in such a way that anyone who had no idea about the topic could understand. Finally, I felt a strong point of her review was the fact that she stated that it was still in the works, so one could get there hopes up.
ReplyDeleteWhile a strong review, I felt there were areas that needed improvement. Margaret should have gone through her final draft a little more carefully because there were a handful of grammatical errors. Also, I wish she gave more information as to who exactly was doing the research. She mentioned Georgetown, but that was it. Finally, Margaret didn’t really critique the article, she simply summarized the article and expressed the scientific connections to our society.
I learned something incredibly fascinating in this article. I learned that cells can be genetically engineered in order to create insulin for the human body. This, in due time, may be the cure to the dreadful disease that has caused great sorrow in millions of people around the world.
I enjoyed the fact that Pascale addresses the precise way this is achieved: the regressive nature of Stem Cell conversion. "He started by isolating a sperm cell and converting it back to its embryonic state..." I also enjoyed the way she addressed the use of pancreas cells stating that they have be unsuccessful in making these cells produce a substantial amount of insulin to treat diabetes. This is a stepping stone for scientific progression and Pascale takes note of this.
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ReplyDeleteFinally, two things I did not like about this article were the unsophisticated vocabulary and shoddy grammar: "They have sperm cells can also be stem cells." It made this review difficult to understand.
The title stirs some interest in many readers. The fact that this article addresses such a controversial topic on both the scientific and political stage: Stem Cell Research makes this an interesting article. I wish there was a paragraph that addressed the ethics of this procedure and what other scientists think of this scientific innovation.
Margaret did a very good job in describing Ian Gallicano experiment. She used a lot of details, which helped me understand what was going on. She also definded confusing terms, which was helpful. She also described how this would cure help women with diabetes more than men. This was very interesting to learn.
ReplyDeleteThis review could have had a bit more detail, and it could have had more information about diabities, and what diabities is.
I was impressed in how Ian Gallicano thought about this idea, and how he created an experiment to see if it works. It is unfortant that this was not a cure for diabetes, but it just shows much progress we have made over the years in looking for a cure for it. I hope that some day we will find a cure for it, but until then scientists all over the world just have to keep studying and doing experiments until the cure is found. This was a very interesting article.
Katherine Bopp
The first thing that Margaret did very well was that she explained the process of the how the scientists at Georgetown converted the sperm cells into insulin producing cells. After I read what she wrote, I completely understood the process of how the sperm cells become insulin producing cells. The second thing that Margaret did well was that she also explained the downfalls of the scientist’s research. It is important to explain the downfalls as well as the benefits, so the report is telling the truth. The last thing that Margaret did well was that she explained how important it is for diabetes to be cured. With a cure for diabetes, thousands of people would be cured by a debilitating disease. I like how she used a quote by a scientist at Georgetown to end the current event.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that Margaret could have improved upon was that she could have given more information about the article because I felt like the review was kind of short. If she added more information about the study, the review would have been more complete. The second thing she could improve upon is that she could have introduced diabetes in the beginning of the review. If she explained what diabetes is and how it affects people, I would have gotten a lot more out of the article and learned more about why diabetes is such a debilitating disease.
One interesting thing I learned about this article is that sperm cells can be used as stem cells to produce insulin producing cells to alleviate the symptoms of diabetes. I also learned that while the process works, it does not work well enough. The newly created insulin producing cells did not produce enough insulin to help people with diabetes.
Margaret did a fantastic job in reviewing this article, and their were many very strong points to her summary. One great aspect of the review was how she mentioned that scientists may soon be able to enact the function of stem cells through sperm cells. This would avoid the ethological debate of stem cells. Margaret also did a great job of simplifying the article and keeping it clear, making it concise and easy to read. It was also finally beneficial to the review that she mentioned that the researchers were not where they wanted to be, and had not yet reached their goals in the experiment. mentioning this this kept the study more grounded.
ReplyDeleteThere were however some aspects of the review that could have been improved. It would have been nice if the review could elaborated more on the sperm cell experiments, and how they were altered to specialize. It also may have been beneficial to the article of the methods and materials of the study were briefly mentioned.
One point of the article that I found very interesting was how the researchers found a way to use sperm cells in place of stems cells. As mentioned earlier in the comment, this breakthrough research could possibly avoid the whole debate of stem cells and keep the cell differentiation treatment out of the media and back to saving lives.
Overall this was a well presented summary of an article Margaret came up with. I very much thought that the way she discussed and summarized how the scientists at Georgetown converted sperm cells into insulin producing cells was very effective. Upon reading her summary it was not at all difficult for me to comprehend the process of converting sperm cells into insulin producing ones. What I next found insightful were the explanations of the downfalls of the scientist’s research. It is important to explain the downfalls as well as the benefits, so that the report can remain as unbiased and truthful as possible for the reader. Finally she explained the importance of curing diabetes. This made not only the article relevant but also powerfully interesting. With a cure for diabetes, thousands of people would be from this debilitating disease. The quote at the end of the current event was also a strong finish. One thing that Margaret could have improved upon was that she could have given more information about the article. While it was a good summary I felt that the review was lacking in information and overall “meat”. If she added more information about the study, the review would have been more complete. Next it may have been beneficial to introduce diabetes in the beginning of the review to make sure the reader knew what he or she was reading. If she explained what diabetes is and how it affects people, it would have been much easier to find importance in the article. This information would help people comprehend more about why diabetes is such a debilitating disease. One interesting thing I learned about this article is that sperm cells can be used as stem cells to produce insulin producing cells to alleviate the symptoms of diabetes. I also learned that while the process works, it does not work well enough. Unfortunately the newly created insulin producing cells did not produce sufficient amounts of insulin to completely help people with diabetes.
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