Ali Seifinejad is the author of this chapter and he speaks on the authority of Springer Science+Business Media which is a large publishing company. Seifinejad makes a lot of claims throughout this chapter, however, I think that this concluding paragraph is the most important. In the passage I have selected, he outlines the fact that induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have not yet proven to be as important as effective as Embryonic Stem Cells(ESCs). This claim and conversation is a response to the current debate in the science community over the ethical dilemma of using ESCs. Their goal is to inform us of the most recent research done in stem cells. IPSCs are typically reprogrammed to stem cells via a virus, a protein or mRNA, or other "small molecules" such as microRNA (miRNA). The mechanisms by which they are reprogrammed are complex and irrelevant for this paper. The point I would like to make and will be used much in my argument, is the effectiveness of each technique and the possible consequences or impacts of each. That being said, in the case of using a virus is difficult to ensure that the virus' can be found in the cells genome, or genetic code, after reprograming. This could be problematic for many reasons but for the most part its effects are unknown. When using small molecules and mRNA or proteins they are able to reprogram the cells and "Eliminate the Application of Exogenous Reprogramming Transcription Factors." This basically means that they can ensure that the reprograming mechanism is coming from the intended reprograming agent. Their goal with small molecules is to use them to reprogram cells and do it without using any genetic materials because genetic materials could effect the iPSCs genetic material. They have been able to generate partially reprogrammed cells using small molecules and their goal is to eventually be able to completely reprogram the cell. Proteins and mRNA are also another possible way to reprogram cells. It is hoped that they can find a way to use these to reprogram them in a pure way and with minimal steps, compared to past experiments that have created them in very complex processes. Seifinejad uses citations of credible sources to support all of his evidence. This article is meant to be informational more than anything and does a great job in doing so. He informs us of all of the most recent research and findings with stem cells and says what their goal is with each method of reprograming somatic stem cells. He leaves it to us to interpret whether the findings are promising and could lead to iPSCs being as or more useful than ESCs. Lastly, this book was published in 2012 so some of the findings and studies could be outdated.
Baharvand, Hossein, and Nasser Aghdami. Advances in Stem Cell Research. New York: Humana, 2012. Print.
External sources used to interpret article:
Murnaghan, Ian. "Pluripotent Stem Cells." Pluripotent Stem Cells. N.p., 12 Feb. 2016. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.