In the recent past, there are numerous stem cells research studies guided by ethical considerations. Stem cells are cells that are undifferentiated, which possess the ability to renew themselves into diverse specialized cell types. These cells have the potential to offer treatment to a variety of diseases. However, the use of stem cells in various treatments is controversial, raising various ethical concerns due to their nature of harming the blastocyst.

Scientists are carrying out research seeking new ways of using embryonic stem cells that may enable successful tissue and organ regeneration without raising ethical concerns. The self-renewal stem cells enable regeneration of cells, tissues, systems and organs within the human body offering treatment to a variety of disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease acute lung injury etc.

Advancements in Stem Cell Research

Stem cells research has been an ongoing process since the mid-eighties and has remained a controversial topic to date. There have been numerous attempts of fertilizing the mammal eggs outside of the body. In early 2000, both Presidents Bush and Clinton authorized funding for research on embryonic stem cell lines and on aborted human fetuses cells respectively. These researches led to the creation of the first cloned human blastocyst in 2004 though was later proven as fraudulent. The move inspired the formation of guidelines within which the stem cells research would be conducted without raising a variety of ethical concerns in 2008.

The stem cell research has evolved to date when for instance in 1989 scientists bred the knockout mice without specific genes to establish how diseases develop in the human body. The research evolved in 2001 leading to the generation of stem cells that would produce red blood cells used for blood transfusion. It evolved further leading to the creation of heart cells from the skin enabling the patching of the damaged heart in 2016.