With stem cell research, is it possible to create a new eye?
Are you asking yourself about whether or not you should speak to the local cord blood bank?
The idea of cord blood banking has seen much enhanced acceptance in the past decade. At the moment people are giving it serious thought to bank their infant’s cord blood. In the past, the umbilical cord used to be dumped after the child was finally delivered, however with expanding awareness of how beneficial the blood of the umbilical cord is, the doctors have finally started to store the blood of the umbilical cord in cord blood banks.
After a great deal of medical research has been performed on what can be done with the umbilical cord researchers have observed that it is very helpful to store the umbilical cord in a cord blood bank. The blood of the umbilical cord is really helpful in the treatment of various diseases related to the immune system and also other blood related disorders which people suffer from. Until the mid 1990s the umbilical blood was never stored in a cord blood bank; however after the mid 1990s the medical world have began to appreciate the importance of umbilical blood and are now distributing awareness about the importance of storing umbilical blood in a cord blood bank.
The increasing importance of the Cord blood bank
The most basic reason why people are now thinking about using a cord blood bank is because the umbilical blood is considered to be so precious. This is since it includes high amount of hematopoietic stem cells and can be stored in the cord blood banks safely for years. The importance of having a large amount of hematopoietic stem cells is that this particular type of blood has the capability to generating new white blood cells and red blood cells. The concept behind the use of cord blood is similar to that of bone marrow transplants which have been in practice for years. However unlike the bone marrow which needs to be a perfect match with the recipient, the utilization of the umbilical blood does not necessitate such a perfect match.
There are many increased chances of treating an ailment with the use of umbilical blood than there are with the bone marrow transplants since the chances of a patient’s body rejecting the umbilical blood are much less in comparison to his likelihood of rejecting the bone marrow.
The prolonged stem cell research shows that there are roughly 70 diseases that can be cured with the use of the umbilical cord blood. It is for this reason that more and more people are now starting to keep their baby’s umbilical cord blood in a local cord blood bank. The cord blood is not only usable by the child whose umbilical cord blood is stored, but this blood can also be used by the family members of the children as well. The storing of umbilical blood is of high importance because research shows that the use of the umbilical blood could be of assistance in curing some cancers, damaged internal organs and even some blood disorders, which is one of the major reasons why quite a lot of people are starting to avail yourself of a cord blood bank service.
If you want to have your baby’s umbilical blood stored will want to pick a cord blood bank prior to the arrival of your baby because not all hospitals are equipped collect and relocate the umbilical blood to the cord blood bank. Therefore you would need to choose the cord blood bank and inform your doctor almost 2 months in advance so that you can simplify the process of paperwork and preparation for the collection and storage of your baby’s umbilical cord blood to the cord blood bank.
With stem cell research, Is it possible to create/grow a new eye for a person who have been blind or lose their eye in accident?
Or for people who are too near sighted?
Filed under Stem Cell by on Nov 22nd, 2009.

Comments on With stem cell research, is it possible to create a new eye?
In principle, yes. If you use a pluripotent stem cell and turn on the correct genes that lead to eye development, you could coerce the stem cell to differentiate into an eye. There are many factors at play, such as the environment in which you’re growing the cells and the behavior of neighboring structures.
I don’t beleive so because the optical nerve would probably be too damaged when the new eye is reattached.
Regrettably, growing a organ as complex as an eye is way, way down the road for organ/tissue engineering. Even if such an organ could be grown from stem cells, the artificial eye would still take years to grow to proper size and interface correctly with the visual cortex of the brain.
One day in the future, maybe, these things will be possible. As far as I know, we are not there yet.
Sorry.