Substitute skin made from stem cells

I-Stem is the French site of stem cell research and from where a world first was recently announced. Scientists there made substitute skin from stem cells a development they hope will one day lead to new treatments for skin disorders and those with bad burns. The material is made from human embryonic stem cells and so far has only been tested on mice. 

Embryonic cells show little immune identification and so it is highly unlikely that the skin derived from them would risk rejection, at least in the short term. Only time and tests would tell if eventually this stem cell skin could be used as a permanent replacement. Scientists at I-Stem are now looking at whether or not the embryonic cells would continue to be a ‘neutral source’ adaptable to any body.  

Embryonic cells are known for their capacity for unlimited proliferation and ability to differentiate into all the cell types of the body but ethical questions still rumble around their use. Scientists in Japan succeeded in altering adult stem cells and getting them to act like embryonic cells about two years ago and now, across in China scientists have cloned a mouse using stem cells from a fully grown animal, proving that they too can adapt and change. However the Chinese advance has now put the question of cloning under the ethical spotlight. 

Finally HEALTH looks at the current use of stem cells in treatments. Two boys with a rare and fatal degenerative disorder known as ALD have improved after stem cells of their own blood were removed and genetically corrected in a laboratory to form healthy proteins. Two years on, there’s been a delay in the disease progression in both patients....