Re-designing Life?: Developing the Synthetic Savior

By: Kylie B. and David C.

Period 3

Synthetic stem cells is a genetic concept that will pave the road for the future of genetics. These stem cells can be grown without the use of human or animal DNA, and it can be used to grow or replace damaged tissue and organs. Stem cells can be used to treat different types of genetic illnesses and minimize problematic cells or DNA. For now we can only create stem cells from other stem cells, but we hope, soon, that we can create stem cells out of nothing because that is what will change the future. For now, many methods of growing stem cells, without human or animal DNA, use a carbon nanotube scaffolds which will provide the cells with the requirements to grow.

Even though there is a gigantic amount of benefits, there is also a lot of risks. The implanted cells might not be able to function properly because of the lack of oxygen and nutrients. Another error that can occur is the rejection of the new stem cells if it is not grown to one’s specific DNA. Another thing that should be considered is personal information being used for more than medical research. Other people, like hackers, can access and use this information for other purposes, due to the news of the creation of the first synthetic stem cell which is a violation of one’s privacy.

There were many mixed emotions about this topic. Some agreed and was happy about the idea, while some focused on the risks and consequences. Our first interviewee, Mr. Kishore, believes that the technology should advance in order to help create the first synthetic stem cell because there can still be a lot of complications with the creation of the first cell. However, our second interviewee, Mrs. Rosen, is all about the idea and supports it because she believes that it will save the lives of some embryos and save time instead of looking for hidden adult stem cells. Our third interviewee, Gigi, thinks its a 50-50 chance, but thinks it’s worth the risk because it has the power to cure diseases because there may be some risks but the benefits will outweigh them. Our fourth interviewee, Madisyn, said these people should still pay the very expensive amount if it’s working towards curing diseases because there are no other things you can do to replace the effectiveness of the stem cell. Our last interviewee, Kylie, wouldn’t pay the amount because of the risks and consequences that can occur. Our technology isn’t advanced enough, so it may cause even more problems.

Our opinion on this topic is that we think synthetic stem cells can really benefit us once the cost lowers. We can regrow and replace organs that are beyond repair and that is a great benefit for people who need transplants. Kylie and I think the cost is way too much for what it is worth because it is about $20 billion and will start growing higher by 15% which, we think, is completely outrageous. As long as the technology progresses, we think this cost will start lowering sooner and may be expensive but can be afforded by the average person, so we hope that happens. This doesn’t affect personally us but we think it will have an effect once we need a transplant for an organ or it could’ve had an effect on us at birth because the stem cells could’ve helped move along the progress of the research. This definitely should be considered in helping the people of the world and there may be little risks along with it, but we think it is okay because the risks are minor while the benefits produced from it are tremendous once it works.

We hope you liked our blog and would like to thank you for taking your time and reading this.

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