How They Work

              Stem Cells work by being combined with the cells of the necessary body part. The cells act like a code that tells the stem cells to reproduce them. Once this is done, scientists culture the stem cells as they would a normal cell. It can take years to culture enough stem cells to replace, or clone a part of the body. Stem cells can transform into 220 different cells of the body. When a stem cell transforms to a different cell from which it originated it is called plasticity, this recent discovery will lead to cures for diabetes, certain types of cancer, and other serious diseases. Embryos can either be made by reproduction, merging sperm and egg, or cloning. Therapeutic cloning is a technique that merges a cell from a patient who needs the stem cell therapy, with a donor egg. The nucleus is taken from the egg and replaced with the nucleus of the patient’s cell.