Stem Cells and DNA

GA Dr. Tom.

I will add that the fantasy laboratory atrocities of growing a human nose or a "hole" on the back of a mouse are as disgusting as they are unrealistic.

For the OP's interest, genes alone do not control morphogenesis in a one to one manner. Gene expression is a variable, and this can be influenced by many factors including environmental conditions, the timing of cell division events vis a vis the cell cycle, etc etc.

For an introductary read on morphogenesis I recommend Brian Goodwin's book, How the Leopard Changed its Spots.

The quest for science I understand and encourage.....fully. The question really is where the scientist and I draw our lines on what is ethical and what is not. Even that can differ vastly without serious consequence. The matter of extreme concern is whether the money behind the research is even vaguely aware of the concepts of ethics.

Oh I must be mistaken then, I thought they used stem cells to grow the ear on the back of a mouse

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/1949073.stm

The article you cited does not mention stem cells, nor does my impression of what they did (as a layman) involve stem cells. They mention cartilage cells, which I would assume (I know) are something "downstream" of stem cells.

Here's a reference to a book with a picture of the mouse--the caption of the picture was the first thing I found in the book on the subject, and it also doesn't mention stem cells. It mentions human and cow cartilage cells:

Biotechnology for beginners, By Reinhard Renneberg, Arnold L. Demain

In the interest of clarity, I could not find a reference to a nose being grown on the back of a mouse. (I might have missed something.) The thing I did find was an ear grown on the back of a mouse, but the reference I found on the subject made one thing explicitly clear, that this was not the result of any genetic engineering.

They grew the cartilage on a (iirc, plastic) scaffold in the shape of a human ear--iirc, eventually there was enough human and cow cartilage that the ear shaped piece of flesh could support itself, and the scaffold was removed by one means or another.

The next two paragraphs are basically a copy of part of a comment I made to another post in this thread, the final paragraph is a new comment. ;-)

I also believe it was implicit that it did not involve the use of stem cells. They mention cartilage cells, which I would assume (I know) are something "downstream" of stem cells.

Here's a reference to a book with a picture of the mouse--the caption of the picture was the first thing I found in the book on the subject, and it doesn't mention stem cells. It mentions human and cow cartilage cells:

Biotechnology for beginners, By Reinhard Renneberg, Arnold L. Demain

As an aside, I believe that:

• stem cells could someday be used to repair a hole in a mouse's back
• genetic engineering someday might be used to grow things like a human nose, ear, liver, etc., with the use of stem cells (or not)