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    • E. Christian Brugger, D.Phil. – E. Christian Brugger is a Senior Fellow of Ethics and Director of the Fellows Program at the Culture of Life Foundation in Washington, D.C. and the J. Francis Cardinal Stafford Professor of Moral Theology at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver, Colorado. He has Master degrees in moral theology and moral philosophy from Seton Hall, Harvard and Oxford Universities and received his D.Phil. (Ph.D.) in Christian ethics from Oxford in 2000.  Christian has published over 200 articles in scholarly and popular periodicals on topics in bioethics, sexual ethics, natural law theory, as well as the interdisciplinary field of psychology and Christian anthropology.  He lives on a farm in Evergreen, Colorado, with his wife Melissa and five children.
    • Helen Alvaré, J.D. – Helen Alvaré, J.D. is Honorary Fellow in Law at the Culture of Life Foundation.   Helen is an Associate Professor of Law at the George Mason University School of Law in Arlington, Virginia where she teaches and publishes in the areas of property law, family law, and Catholic social thought. Professor Alvaré serves as Consultor for the Pontifical Council for the Laity, Senior Fellow at the Witherspoon Institute where she chairs the Conscience Protection Task Force, is President of the Chiaroscuro Foundation and most recently Editor and Co-Author of Breaking Through: Catholic Women Speak for Themselves.From 2000 to Spring 2008, Professor Alvare taught at the Catholic University Columbus School of Law. Professor Alvare also lectures widely in the United States and Europe on matters concerning marriage, family and respect for human life. She is a consultant to ABC News and to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Marriage and Pro-Life Committees. In 2008, Pope Benedict XVI named Professor Alvare a Consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Laity.From 1987-2000, Professor Alvare was an attorney with the USCCB’s General Counsel Office and director of information and planning for the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities. In these positions, she testified before the…
    • Jennifer Kimball Watson, Be.L. – Jennifer Kimball Watson joined Culture of Life Foundation as Executive Director in November of 2007. She is an Adjunct Professor of Bioethics at the Ave Maria School of Law in Naples, F.L.. Previous to her work with the Culture of Life Foundation Jennifer was a Wilbur Fellow of the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal located in Michigan. Jennifer earned a Licentiate in Bioethics from the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum School of Bioethics in Rome.  Her prior undergraduate studies were in International Administration and Government Policy at the Evergreen State College in Washington State.Jennifer’s areas of specialization include Eugenics in Artificial Reproductive Technologies, Heterologous Adoption and Transfer of Embryos, The Womb in Reproductive Technologies, and the Role and Significance of The Medical Act. She interviews with National Conservative and Christian Radio Syndicates as well as several foreign and secular reporters. Jennifer has spoken on the dignity of women and women’s social issues to various audiences since 1999 and has spent several years in advocacy work with various international organizations in the field of life sciences. From 2000 to 2006 she recruited and coordinated grass-roots social policy efforts that consisted of a public and private sector network of professionals and academics…
    • Margaret Datiles Watts, J.D. – Margaret Datiles Watts, J.D., is Culture of Life Foundation’s Associate Fellow in Law. Maggie is member of Washington, D.C. and Maryland bar associations.  She holds a B.A. in Philosophy (Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude) and a Certificate in Classical Philosophy from the University Honors Program at The Catholic University of America. She earned a Juris Doctorate from Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America, where she served as a Research Fellow at CUA Law’s Marriage Law Project. She also studied Roman Law and EU Law at Magdalene College, University of Oxford, England.A former Fellow and Staff Counsel for Americans United for Life, Datiles co-authored an amicus curiae brief to the Supreme Court of the United States in the landmark partial birth abortion case, Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood, et al., companion case to Gonzales v. Carhart (2007). She also advised legislators, policy groups and the media (radio and newspapers) on abortion and bioethics laws and drafted pro-life model legislation.Her areas of research and/or publication include legal issues surrounding abortion, government funding restrictions for abortion, contraception, healthcare rights of conscience, stem cell research, artificial reproductive technology, population decline, physician-assisted suicide, euthanasia, and same-sex marriage.She currently publishes articles…
    • William E. May – William E. May is Senior Research Fellow of the Culture of Life Foundation and emeritus Michael J. McGivney Professor of Moral Theology at the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he taught the academic years from 1991 through 2008 after teaching for 20 years at The Catholic University of America. He is the author of more than a dozen books. The 2nd edition of his Catholic Bioethics and the Gift of Human Life was published by Our Sunday Visitor (2008), and a substantively revised 3rd edition is scheduled for publication in 2013. In 2003 Our Sunday Visitor published a revised and expanded edition of his Introduction to Moral Theology. Among his other books are: Marriage: The Rock on Which the Family Is Built (San Francisco: Ignatius, 1995; 2nd revised edition, 2009)); and, with Ronald Lawler OFM Cap and Joseph Boyle, Catholic Sexual Ethics (rev. and enlarged ed. Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor, 1998; 2nd rev. edition, 1998; a 3rd edition, substantively revised by May alone, was published in 2011); Theology of the Body: Genesis and Growth (Boston: Pauline Books & Media, 2010) He has published more…
    • Frank J. Moncher, Ph.D. – Dr. Frank Moncher received his Ph.D. in Clinical-Community Psychology from the University of South Carolina in 1992, following which he spent several years on faculty of the Medical College of Georgia, with a focus on Adolescent Intensive Services. In 2000 he moved to the Washington, DC area to teach at a graduate school of psychology which had a mission of integrating the science of psychology in the context of the Catholic Christian view of the human person. Concurrent with this, over the past 12 years he has consulted with 11 different religious orders and 4 dioceses to provide psychological evaluations of aspirants and candidates, as well as consulting with different diocesan marriage tribunals.His research interests include the integration of Catholic thought into psychotherapy, child and family development issues, and integrated models of assessment of candidates for the priesthood and religious life. Frank is published in Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Human Services, Adolescence, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Edification, and the Journal of Psychology and Christianity, as well as contributing to several book chapters on children, families, and religious issues.Since 2010, Dr. Moncher has worked for the Diocese of Arlington and Catholic Charities as a psychologist and consultant.  His…
    • Steve Soukup – Fellow in Culture and Economy Steve Soukup is the Vice President and Publisher of The Political Forum, an “independent research provider” that delivers research and consulting services to the institutional investment community, with an emphasis on economic, social, political, and geopolitical events that are likely to have an impact on the financial markets in the United States and abroad. Mr. Soukup has followed politics and federal regulatory policy for the financial community since coming to Washington in 1996, when he joined Mark Melcher at the award-winning Washington-research office of Prudential Securities. While at Prudential, he was part of the Washington team that placed first in Institutional Investor magazine’s annual analyst survey for eight years in a row. Mr. Soukup left Prudential with Mr. Melcher to join Lehman Brothers in the fall of 2000 and stayed there for two years, before leaving early in 2003 to become a partner at The Political Forum. While at Lehman, Mr. Soukup authored macro-political commentary and followed policy developments in the Natural Resources sector group, focusing on agriculture and energy policy. He also headed Lehman’s industry-leading analysis of asbestos litigation reform efforts. At The Political Forum, Mr. Soukup was initially the editor and junior partner,…
    • Dr. Pilar Calva, M.D. – Dr. Calva is a medical doctor specializing in Human Genetics with a Cytogenetics subspecialty from The University of Paris, France. In Paris, she was the under-study to the world-renowned Professor Jerome Lejeune, who is considered by some to be the father of modern genetics. In 1958, Lejeune discovered that an extra 21st chromosome is responsible for Down syndrome, or Trisomy 21. Lejeune dedicated his life tirelessly and unfailingly to defend the unborn, especially those with Down syndrome, testifying before scientific conferences and lawmakers. He was appointed by Pope John Paul II as the first President of the Pontifical Academy for Life. In Dr. Calva’s own words: When I arrived in France, I lived a life divided between faith and reason. I thought that from Monday to Saturday, I put on my white coat for my scientific tasks, and Sunday was the day I took off the white coat, put on my crucifix and dedicated myself to my religious duties. Professor Lejeune truly converted me, making me see that one can wear the white coat and the cross, at the same time. That is, one can fly with the wing of faith and the wing of reason. Inspired by the life…
    • Elyse M. Smith – Elyse M. Smith is an associate attorney with a northern Virginia law firm working in nonprofit and church law, estate planning, and civil litigation. Ms. Smith graduated magna cum laude from Ave Maria School of Law in Naples, Florida, where she served on Law Review and was published in the Ave Maria International Law Journal. She was named “Most Dedicated Editor” for her work on Law Review. Ms. Smith earned her bachelor’s degree in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia.  
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  >  Issue Briefs  >  Bioethics  >  Advances in Stem Cell Research: Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells and Stem Cells Derived from…

Advances in Stem Cell Research: Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells and Stem Cells Derived from…

Posted: November 19, 2009
By: E. Christian Brugger, D.Phil.
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Progress on research creating induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs):
I have written several times on the blockbuster breakthrough in stem cell research known as direct reprogramming, a technique for converting (“inducing”) common body cells (“somatic cells”) into pluripotent stem cells or iPSCs.  In November 2007 the team of Shinya Yamanaka of Japan’s University of Kyoto first published on the successful production of human iPSCs [1].  By injecting four select proteins delivered on the back of retroviruses into a skin cell, they were able to reprogram the highly differentiated skin cell back into the state of a pluripotent stem cell.  Amidst the well-deserved enthusiasm generated by the success, questions were raised at once about the retroviral delivery system.  Because the viruses tended to incorporate themselves into the new cell’s DNA, the technique risked tumor formation if ever used in clinical trials with humans.  Finding a harmless delivery system for the reprogramming proteins became the new challenge.

In September 2008, the online version of the journal Science published a study using less risky adenovirus vectors to deliver the four proteins [2].  In this case the viruses were non-integrating, posing less of a tumorigenic threat.  Nevertheless, researchers still wanted to eliminate the need for viral delivery systems altogether.  One possibility that proved successful was delivering the reprogramming proteins using small non-integrating circular pieces of DNA called plasmids [3].  Unfortunately, the non-viral delivery system decreased the efficiency of the cellular reprogramming.  How could we maintain efficiency while eliminating the need for viruses?  Last Spring, the problem of inefficiency was overcome when researchers successfully delivered the proteins using DNA segments called piggyBAC transposons.  The segments were later excised leaving no footprint at all, but their reprogramming efficiency equaled that of viral systems [4].  The most recent and promising success, published last Summer, is to deliver the reprogramming proteins directly into the somatic cells without relying on delivery genes at all [5].  This startlingly swift progress illustrates what the scientific community is capable of when it’s motivated. 

Finally, in October 2009, a method for dramatically improving the reprogramming efficiency of iPSC production was published.  Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute developed a technique that has improved the efficiency of direct reprogramming 200 percent [6]. 

Parthenogenetic creation of pluripotent stem cells
Parthenogenesis (fr. Gk. parthenos—“virgin”) is a form of asexual reproduction occurring in nature in some species of insects, reptiles and birds.  In mammals parthenogenesis is an aberrant process.  Its success is prevented by nature’s requiring bi-parental genetic contribution to the development of offspring.  But mammalian parthenogenetic development can be induced artificially by activating a female egg to divide in the absence of male sperm using chemical or electrical stimuli.  Because an egg’s final stage of maturation – the second meiotic division—takes place at fertilization, an unfertilized egg still possesses 46 chromosomes, albeit all derived from the mother.  Two fascinating studies published in 2007 in the journal Cell Research describe the successful derivation of human pluripotent stem cells from parthenogenetically activated female eggs [7].  Among the eggs that began dividing, a few developed to day five with a visible inner cell mass (ICM).  The ICM was extracted and stem cells were derived.  When analyzed, they were found to possess many properties characteristic of pluripotent embryonic stem cells.

Ethically speaking, we need to ask whether human parthenotes even though non-viable are nevertheless human embryos albeit defective in some way—i.e., badly disabled human beings.  We know that an unfertilized egg is not a human being.  So it is tempting to conclude that neither is a parthenote.  And yet human parthenotes mimic observable embryonic behavior for several days.  Catholic ethicists are divided over the question.  Mark Latkovic of Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit argues that since human parthenotes behave like embryos early on—they divide and form blastocyst-like structures—we should presume they are embryos [8].  Thus research creating human parthenotes would be immoral.  Nicanor Pier Giorgio Austriaco, O.P. of Providence College argues for the opposite conclusion.  In the absence of chromosomal information derived from the father, the molecular basis of the parthenote cannot effect the transition from the egg cell into a living human organism [9].  Thus stem cell research on human parthenotes would seem to be morally permissible. A similar conclusion is reached by Joachim Huarte and Antoine Suarez [10].  My own thinking on the question is unresolved.  Evidence suggests that human parthenotes have developed humanoid bodies—called in the literature a ‘homunculus’—with small brains, bone structures, and some internal organ development [11].  Although these are unusual, and the majority of naturally occurring parthenotes observed in humans develop into chaotic tumor masses called teratomas; nevertheless, the evidence makes me very uncomfortable ruling out the possibility that in some cases an activated egg can reconstitute itself into an embryo.

In brief on ASCs
Meanwhile, while research on both ESCs and iPSCs has yet to proceed to clinical trials, adult stem cells continue to rack up medical triumphs.  Using adult stem cells taken from the fat tissue of a 14 year old boy with a rare genetic condition called Treacher Collins syndrome causing deformities in the facial bones, doctors were able to grow new cheek bones for the teenage boy [12].  In similar research published in October in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists at Columbia University successfully created part of a human jaw joint known as the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) using adult stem cells derived from bone marrow.  Chief researcher Dr. Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic said: “The availability of personalized bone grafts engineered from the patient’s own stem cells would revolutionize the way we currently treat these defects.”  The doctor said he hoped the new method also could be applied to the creation of other bones in the neck and head, which are particularly difficult to graft [13].

____________________________

Notes
[1] Kazutoshi Takahashi, Shinya Yamanaka, et al., “Induction of Pluripotent Stem Cells from Adult Human Fibroblasts by Defined Factors,” Cell 131 (2007), 1–12; doi:10.1016/j.cell.2007.11.019.

[2] Matthias Stadtfeld, Masaki Nagaya, Jochen Utikal, Gordon Weir, Konrad Hochedlinger, “Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Generated without Viral Integration,” Science, published online September 25, 2008, doi:10.1126/science.1162494

[3] Junying Yu, Kejin Hu, Kim Smuga-Otto, Shulan Tian, Ron Stewart, Igor I. Slukvin, James A. Thomson, “Human induced pluripotent stem cells free of vector and transgene sequences,” Science 324 (May 8, 2009), 797-801; doi: 10.1126/science.1172482; Keisuke Okita, Masato Nakagawa, Hong Hyenjong, Tomoko Ichisaka, Shinya Yamanaka, “Generation of mouse induced pluripotent stem cells without viral vectors,” Science 322 (November 7, 2008), 949-953; doi: 10.1126/science.1164270

[4] Keisuke Kaji, Katherine Norrby, Agnieszka Paca, Maria Mileikovsky, Paria Mohseni, Knut Woltjen, “Virus-free induction of pluripotency and subsequent excision of reprogramming factors,” Nature 458 (April 9, 2009), 771-775, doi: 10.1038/nature07864; Knut Woltjen, Iacovos P. Michael, Paria Mohseni, Ridham Desai, Maria Mileikovsky, Riikka Hämäläinen, Rebecca Cowling, Wei Wang, Pentao Liu, Marina Gertsenstein, Keisuke Kaji, Hoon-Ki Sung, Andras Nagy, “PiggyBac transposition reprograms fibroblasts to induced pluripotent stem cells,” Nature 458 (April 9, 2009), 766-770, doi: 10.1038/nature07863; Kosuke Yusa, Roland Rad, Junji Takeda, Allan Bradley, “Generation of transgene-free induced pluripotent mouse stem cells by the piggyBac transposon,” Nature Methods; published online March 31, 2009, doi:10.1038/nmeth.1323.

[5] Hongyan Zhou, Shili Wu, Jin Young Joo, Saiyong Zhu, Dong Wook Han, Tongxiang Lin, Sunia Trauger, Geoffery Bien, Susan Yao, Yong Zhu, Gary Siuzdak, Hans R. Schöler, Lingxun Duan, and Sheng Ding, “Generation of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Using Recombinant Proteins,” Cell Stem Cell 4 (May 8, 2009), 381-384, doi:10.1016/j.stem.2009.04.005; D. Kim, C. Kim, J. Moon, Y. Chung, M. Chang, B. Han, S. Ko, E. Yang, K. Cha, R. Lanza, “Generation of human induced pluripotent stem cells by direct delivery of reprogramming proteins,” Cell Stem Cell 4 (June 5, 2009), 472-476, doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2009.05.005

[6] Tongxiang Lin, Rajesh Ambasudhan, Xu Yuan, Wenlin Li, et al., “A chemical platform for improved induction of human iPSCs,” Nature Methods, published online 18 October 2009, 1-4; DOI:10.1038/ NMETH.1393

[7] Mai Q, Yu Y, Li T, et al. “Derivation of human embryonic stem cell lines from parthenogenetic blastocysts,” Cell Research 17 (2007), 1008–1019; Lin G, OuYang Q, Zhou X, et al., “A highly homozygous and parthenogenetic human embryonic stem cell line derived from a one-pronuclear oocyte following in vitro fertilization procedure,” Cell Research 17 (2007), 999–1007

[8] Mark S. Latkovic, “The Science and Ethics of Parthenogenesis,” National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, vol. 2, no. 2 (Summer 2002), 245-255, esp. 253.

[9] Nicanor Pier Giorgio Austriaco, O.P., “On Static Eggs and Dynamic Embryos: A Systems Perspective,” National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 2.4 (Winter 2002), 659-683.

[10] Joachim Huarte and Antoine Suarez, “On the Status of Parthenotes: Defining the Developmental Potentiality of a Human Embryo,” National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, vol. 4, no. 4 (Winter 2004), 761.

[11] N. Kuno, K. Kadomatsu, M. Nakamura, T. Miwa-Fukuchi, N. Hirabayashi, T. Ishizuka, “Mature Ovarian Cystic Teratoma with a Highly Differentiated Homunculus: A Case Report,” Birth Defects Research, vol. 70 (Part A) (2004), 40-46.

[12] http://www.physorg.com/news174580442.html

[13] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8290138.stm

 

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