seleste Villalon

As a biomedical engineer, cutting-edge and futuristic science really excites me. Every day, I open the news to read about the latest technology that will revolutionize the medical field. Being trained to be an innovative engineer during an era where the use of genetic engineering, 3D printing, drones, robots, stem cells, computers, cryo-electron microscopes, etc. are on the rise can make it seem as if there are truly no limits to what science can do. However, that is not always the case. To be more specific, biomedical research can be quite controversial at times and therefore much of this research field can be limited by ethical concerns.

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For example, due to the complexity of the ethical concerns surrounding embryonic stem cells (ESCs), a ban was placed on the use of ESCs in 2001 and although the ban was repealed in 2008, there are still limits to the types of ESC lines that can be used for research. (1) The ban and limitations were thought to have negative repercussions on the advancement of medical research. However, due to the ban, a solution that circumvented the ethical dilemma was created. Since there are limits to the use of embryonic stem cells, extensive efforts were made towards finding other solutions and as a result, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) were discovered.

 

The debate surrounding the use of embryonic stem cells exemplifies how ethical concerns can limit biomedical research. As taught in the Stem Cell Engineering course I took (BMEN 389), embryonic stem cells are pluripotent, meaning they hold the capability of turning into any type of cell in the human body. Because of their pluripotency, it is believed that ESCs have the potential to revolutionize not only regenerative medicine but the entire biomedical research field. Labs across the globe have turned to using embryonic stem cells as tools to regenerate cardiovascular components, create scaffolds, repair neurons and bones, model degenerative diseases, instruct biomaterials, derive gene therapies, test drugs, and much more. Due to the knowledge acquired from BMEN 389, I have been able to reflect on the ethical debate and take a stance from an informed and educated mindset.

 

During my summer research internship at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, I had the chance to see first-hand the potential embryonic stem cells hold. As shown in Key Artifact 2a, my research involved using embryonic stem cells to create organoids, or “tiny brains” that could be used to genetically knock out epileptic genes and see what the effect would be on the formation of the brain. The implications of this research showed how embryonic stem cells had the ability to model neurological disorders, a field that had previously been untouched due to the limitations of finding viable brain tissue to study. Not only could these embryonic stem cells be used to create “tiny brains”, they could also be modified to create pretty much any organ in the body that is difficult to study , such as a beating human heart.

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The main ethical concern regarding embryonic stem cells lies in the fact that they are derived from 3 to 5-day old embryos. As shown in Key Artifact 2b, the ethical dilemma lies with the idea that human embryos have intrinsic worth.  They are, in fact, a precursor to a human baby. To some, experimenting with human embryos can be demeaning to human life and since making an embryonic stem cell line requires the destruction of an embryo, it can also be considered a deliberate attempt at destroying human life. (2)

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Also discussed in BMEN 389, iPSCs do not require an embryo to be destroyed. These stem cells are created in the lab by using transcription factors to turn a normal adult cell, such as fibroblasts, back into pluripotent stem cells. This means that a scientist can now simply take a small blood sample from a person and create stem cells from that. IPSCs have all the same capabilities that embryonic stem cells have, except they do not have the ethical concerns attached to them. These stem cells even offer some advantages over embryonic stem cells such as providing the opportunity to create “personalized” cell cultures since they contain the genetic information of the person they were derived from. 

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The innovative technology of iPSCs bridged the gap between ethical concerns and biomedical research. They were the “best of both worlds”. Though many scientists would like to simply ignore the ethical concerns regarding their research , that simply cannot be done. Ethical limits are an important and necessary part of research and help keep the balance between humanity and objective science. Therefore, the next time there is some form of ethical debate over a controversial scientific tool, instead of investing in trying to convince people to get past the ethical dilemma, time and money should be invested in creating an innovative technological tool that can bridge the gap between these two sides. Ethical concerns should be an opportunity to think outside the box and find another solution instead of being seen as a drawback or limit. If innovative technology can in fact circumvent ethical dilemmas and bridge the gap between the two, research would advance much faster and with fewer drawbacks.

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Works Cited 

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1. “Embryonic Stem Cell Research.” Association of American Medical Colleges, <www.aamc.org/advocacy/research/74440/embryonicstemcellresearch.html>.

2. Kelly Hollowell, Ph.D. 2002. “Ten Problems with Embryonic Stem Cell Research”. Acts & Facts. 31(2).

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