A talk on cloning - Wednesday 10th October, 14.00

Diogo Bruno will be giving a talk on reproductive and therapeutic cloning -

ABSTRACT:
Cloning is the act of creating a replica of a cell or individual. Reproductive cloning involves the creation of a new individual, genetically equal to other already alive while therapeutic cloning aims to form cells, tissues or organs that can be used to treat diseases in an alive animal. The scientific basis of cloning and stem cell therapy will be explained in this presentation.
Stem cells are undifferentiated, capable of self-renewal and can differentiate into other types of cells. There are two different types of stem cells currently in study that have some functional differences: (1)embryonic stem cells (ESC) come from the inner cell mass of a blastocyst and are pluripotent while (2)adult stem cells (ASC) are short populations of multipotent cells found in the adult.
Reproductive cloning and ESC-based therapeutic cloning both use somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), a method in which a nucleus from a somatic cell is inserted in a denucleated oocyte. The most known example of reproductive cloning is the "Dolly" sheep which was a huge breakthrough in our knowledge even if it is thought that its early death was due to a accelerating aging phenomenon derived from the limitations of the method. The use of ESC is highly controversial, especially amongst religious groups.
ASC therapy has less ethical issues associated. Also, it has been found that ASCs, in addiction to forming tissue specific cells, have some de-differentiation capacity and a plasticity function that can be useful in the therapy of a multitude of diseases like hematologic disorders, autoimmune and immune-deficiency disorders, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic diseases and others.