UCSF San Francisco | The Immortal Cell

ImmortalCell.com |

Immortal Cell - Internet | Documentaries | Media Projects
An on-going series of video and media projects based primarily on the book by Michael D. West

UCSF San Francisco
California | The Institute for Regeneration Medicine |
UCSF San Francisco | about |
UCSF: http://stemcellfacts.ucsf.edu/ | April 2006 | News Stream |

Arnold Kriegstein, MD, PhD | biography |
Director of the UCSF Institute for Regeneration Medicine
Director of the Program in Developmental and Stem Cell Biology
Professor of Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco.
UCSF Research: glossary | human genetics | stem cell facts | developments |
Somatic cell nuclear transfer
A technique in which the nucleus of any cell of the body (somatic cell) - other than sperm or egg - is injected into an egg that has had its nucleus removed. The nucleated egg is then electrically stimulated, prompting it to take on the genetic and molecular characteristics of an embryo. The embryonic stem cells taken from the embryo in the culture dish will be genetically identical to the body cell from which the nucleus was derived. The technique could prove useful for cell transplantation therapy, as the embryonic stem cells offer a way of providing genetically identical cells to patients who donate the nuclei, thus avoiding the hurdle of immune system rejection.
Speaking of Science: To-ti-po-tent, Plu-rip-o-tent, Mul-ti-po-tent |
Toti means whole or entire.
Pluri denotes more.
Multi is another way for saying many.
A totipotent stem cell
is one that is capable of generating a complete organism; in other words its potential to become any type of tissue -- including the cells that make up the amniotic sac and the placenta -- is total.
Pluripotent stem cells
are everything totipotent cells are MINUS the ability to produce the amniotic sac and the placenta.
Multipotent stem cells,
on the other hand, have the ability to become one of the many different types of cells within ONE mature organ, tissue or physiological system.

Gail Martin UCSF Lab |
Dr. Gail Martin has been at UCSF since 1976. She is a Professor in the Department of Anatomy, and head of the Program in Biological Sciences (PIBS) in Developmental Biology.
Stem cells, a term coined by UCSF researcher Gail Martin in 1981, are not equally potent for all the reasons described. The differences might seem small, but in a political and scientific environment already so highly charged, defining terms disarms the devious or the merely misinformed.

UCSF: http://access.ucsf.edu/ |