Nacario's Digital Scrapbook

• Scientists have been able to grow retinal cells from stem cells which can help repair a patient's retina with their own skin.
• This accomplishment has taken the steps into the reconstruction of a retina closer to reality. The process is very complex to create retina cells. To do this one must reverse engineer a skin cell to make it resemble an embryonic stem cell and activate the process that would make the embryonic stem cell into a retinal cell.
• The team from Wisconsin-Madison school of Medicine and Public Health hope their research can push forward and treat conditions that are caused genetically.
  
• This article relates to our Cell section because it talks about the development of cells into an organ. Embryonic stem cells are the future in cell development for specific injuries, conditions, and other handicaps for a person.
  

This article tells me that there is hope for people who have blindness. I can personally relate to this because my late great aunt was blinded on one eye and was becoming blind in the other. If this research was available for clinical trials, and if my great aunt was healthier, maybe she would've participated in a trial because I believe her blindness was genetically caused. And now, if a retina can be reconstructed, it may only be a matter of time to a full organ can be reconstructed, which can be very helpful for people who may have a organ failure and needs a transplant fast. We have learned of immune system disorders and if a person's body doesn't have the right donor, then the body will reject it. But imagine if someone had a back up heart, or liver, they could live on past their "expiration date." This future may not be to far ahead and who knows, we may be able to reconstruct a failing body some day.