Assignments

Sign up for a country to research and complete the assignment by Monday 23rd. Try and contact a scientist in the stem cell field or someone from the companies conducting stem cell reseach - HSCI, DR Thompson, Advanced Cell Technology etc. Add any questions on stem cells to the Scientist Questions Page Start the Stem Cells in the News Activity if appropriate. 

 //__In class:__ Organize into groups of three.// Set up a Titan Pad or Google Doc. to collaborate on the questions below. Please leave the colors on your titan pad to indicate who provided the information. Name your document StemCells + the names of your group members, ex: StemCells/John/Paul/Ringo/George Add a link to your titanpad/googledoc document in the space below when you have finished.  __ Please be reminded that this is a group assignment, not a class assignment. Your answers should not be identical to other groups. __
 * //__ Assignments are due, complete, by the end of the lesson Thursday! __//**

Use the Resource Page and the distributed material to answer the following questions

1. How are Embryonic Stem Cells (esc) created in the lab. What is this process called? What problems does Konrad Hochedlinger see with the process?

2. What are induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSC)? How are they made? What recent advances have scientists made in their production?

3. How might stem cells be used to treat Parkinson's disease?

4. What important developments in stem cell research took place in 2008?

5. How can some of the ethical concerns over stem cells been addressed?

6. Is Adult Stem Cell (asc) research dead? With the advent of iPSC is esc research dead?

7. How can iPSC be used to study the progression of disease, especially neurological disease?

8. What did the Time article reveal to you about recent advances in stem cell research?

9. How are adult stem cells used in treatment of disease?

10. What changes to esc research funding did Obama's recent legislation provide?

11. What is the difference between the terms pluripotent, multipotent, and terminally differentiated? 12. What are hematopoietic cells and why are they so useful? 13. What human clinical trial research is ACT doing ? What potential problems are associated with this research?

14. What diseases can esc and iPSC be used to treat?

15. Why is cord blood being seen as useful treatment option?

16. What is the difference between the Claudio Castilla and Andemariam Beyene transplants?

17. How are stem cells associated with tumors and the development of cancer? 18. How does the skin gun work? 19. how does the process of remodeling muscle work? What type of stem cells are involved? 20. What are three additional important pieces of information you learned from the resources that are not included in the above questions?

