rsrevision.com/gcse

Therapeutic Cloning

Genetic Engineering

What is Therapeutic Cloning?

Therapeutic Cloning does not involve making a clone of someone- you don't end up with a cloned person: that's reproductive cloning. Therapeutic cloning involves creating copies of cells to make someone better. The process is described below, but it is easy to get confused if you don't read really carefully. The key point to know is that you are cloning an embryo and using it to grow cells, not a new person. It's all experimental at the moment (2011), although different companies and groups keep making claims that say they have been able to do this successfully with human cells.

Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer

This sounds really complicated, but it is easy when you break it down. 'Soma' means 'body', so this is just taking a cell from someone's body, removing the nucleus and transferring it. You put the nucleus, containing all the DNA of the patient, into an empty egg, then shock the new embryo to make it start growing.

Why would you do this?

The first thing to say is that an embryo contains stem cells, and these are cells that can grow into any sort of cell in the body. This is very useful if you want to regrow dead or damaged cells, or grow entire organs. There are other ways to get stem cells, but some researchers think that this is the best way.

Secondly, if you have an embryo with the same DNA as the patient, you are less likely to have problems with the patient's body rejecting the new cells.

Treating disorders and conditions

Therapeutic cloning is still very new, although scientists have been able to develop the process in animals. Researchers believe that it could be used to treat a wide range of inherited disorders and conditions. These include Parkinson's (which is why Michael J Fox actively campaigns for allowing more of this sort of research), spinal cord injuries (Christopher Reeve, who played Superman, broke his neck and campaigned for embryonic stem cell research for years before his death), ALS (which Stephen Hawking has), MS etc.

Organs for Transplant

It would also be possible to use therapeutic cloning to grow organs for transplant. It can take years of waiting on a donor list until you get an organ for transplant. If you could grow a cloned organ, it would take less time, and your body would not reject the organ.

About Us | Site Map| Contact Us | ©2015 rsrevision.com