RJA #3c: Research Question

What is stem cell research?
How many years has this research been going on?
Is the United States the world leader in this type of research?
Would cloning be a good thing for us or would that be going to far?
What diseases or injuries are being treated or hope to be treated with stem cell replacement therapy?

What stem cells are being used? 

What are the risks, the benefits, and controversies surrounding this therapy?

How far is too far when dealing with stem cell developement?

What are the controversies surrounding stem cell research?
Why is stem cell research thought of as a moral issue?

I would like to focus my research on the information I can gather surrounding the treatments for disease, and injuries. I want to know the risks, and the successes that have been experienced and the controversy that may keep us from ever being able to advance this form of therapy to its full potential. I would like to find out if doctors are using embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells, or the new synthetic induced pluripotent stem cell (iPS), and which stem cell treatment is being used for which illness or injury. I would like to know which treatments have been effective and also which treatments are the most controversial and why.

RJA #3b: Research Topic Focus

Probably the first thing that people would debate about stem cell research would be whether or not the use of stem cells is ethical. That is at the core of all the controversy surrounding stem cells. The other part of the debate would be with regards to cloning, which is also a moral issue with many people.

The more positive side of the debate would be surrounding the amazing opportunities stem cell research might offer people with debilitating illnesses or injuries. The fact that this research is not flawless, there are risks involved would also be of interest to discuss. Which therapies have been the most successful and why and the future potential of new and interesting discoveries in the science of stem cell research would also be of interest.

I also think there would be a debate on how old is too old. Do we want to live forever? Is that a possibility? If we allowed all types of stem research to go forward would be want to make clones of ourselves or our children?

I don’t plan to investigate all of these questions but I am excited to learn more about what diseases and injuries doctors are now treating with stem cells, what they are finding, what the risks are, their challenges and also the successes they have had.

RJA#3a: Research Topic Exploration

While first exploring my topic I wanted to choose a subject that I thought would have a good deal of research information to draw from. My initial exploration led to me read a few articles, one specifically from the July 2005 National Geographic entitled, “How Far Will We Go?” This article was very informative concerning the science of stem cell research as well as the treatments. I have attached the link for this and one other site that also had some very good basic information concerning stem cell research below.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0507/feature1/assignment2.html
http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/health.asp

I have spent time browsing articles written in several medical journals, specifically The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA(The Journal of the American Medical Association) and the British Medical Journal and bookmarked these sites.

http://jama.ama-assn.org/
http://search.nejm.org/search?w=Stem+Cell+Treatments&search=SEARCH
http://group.bmj.com/group/media/press-release-archive-files/BMJ/bmj-2005/BMJ-20May-2005-3.pdf

I also felt like University Medical Centers would have information to offer as well, I have bookmarked several university sites especially those referred to in other articles that I read, I bookmarked UCI Medical Research Center, Wake Forest Regenerative Medical Institute and the University of Miami School of Medicine. I have listed some of these sites below:

www.med.miami.edu
www.stemcell.uci.edu
http://www.wfubmc.edu/Research/WFIRM/What-s-New-at-the-Institute.htm

I also found several recent video interviews of people who had had stem cell treatments done to themselves or to their children in medical facilities in China. I thought these were very interesting especially since they were so positive about the treatments they had received. I want to continue to do more exploring about what types of treatments are being done in Asia as these countries seem to be at the cutting edge of stem cell research and I have bookmarked several sites to search in my delicious account.

http://vimeo.com/8164620
http://vimeo.com/8118026
http://www.futuremedicine.com/doi/pdf/10.2217/rme.09.78?cookieSet=1
http://www.stemcellspuhua.com/

Most of the information I did research through and bookmark regarding stem cell research was very good. I found many reputable sites and articles to direct to the areas I would like to focus on with my research.