6 ms·

"Instead, iPSCs are taken from adult human cells, usually from a skin or blood sample, and converted into an embryonic-like state." What would happen if the ad

by sowbug 4y ago

"Instead, iPSCs are taken from adult human cells, usually from a skin or blood sample, and converted into an embryonic-like state." What would happen if the adult human donor took these embryonic-like cells and reinjected them? Would the person develop the vim and vigor of a young adult?

mjfl 4y ago
They would develop widespread teratomas similar to metastatic cancer, and die. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teratoma https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teratoma
- debenedictis 4y ago
  That teratoma link has quite disturbing pics.
  - mariuolo 4y ago
    > That teratoma link has quite disturbing pics. From Ancient Greek τέρατος (tératos, “monster”). Aptly named, I would say.
  - codethief 4y ago
    Make sure to also look at the German Wikipedia page. Two words: Teeth and hair.
- KRAKRISMOTT 4y ago
  Unless it is from a biological clone of you (or iPSC) and pre-treated with a chemical cocktail and used under carefully controlled conditions. This isn't the 1960s, we have a much better grasp of molecular biology and human development now. The fields of immunology and regenerative medicine have come a long way.
  - coldtea 4y ago
    We do have a better grasp, but we're still in the "trying various things blindly and see what sticks" stage and will be for some time...
- peteradio 4y ago
  So you're saying superpowers?
  - api 4y ago
    The superpower to grow tumors with hair in them.
    - Sakos 4y ago
      You know what, I think I'll pass.
    - thefounder 4y ago
      You've got to crack a few eggs to make an omelette
- speedylight 4y ago
  This should NSFW tbh.
- whatshisface 4y ago
  For anyone who wants to see the answer without looking at the, uhh, medical images, here's a quote: "Pluripotent stem cells including human induced pluripotent stem cells have a unique property of being able to generate teratomas when injected in rodents in the research laboratory.[62] For this reason, the so-called "teratoma assay" is one of the gold-standard validation assays for pluripotent stem cells.[63] Because differentiated human pluripotent stem cells are being developed as the basis for numerous regenerative medicine therapies, there is concern that residual undifferentiated stem cells could lead to teratoma formation in injected patients, and researchers are working to develop methods to address this concern.[64]"
echelon 4y ago
When you think about what the genome encodes, you have to appreciate the finely tuned timing and signalling of developmental biology. As development progresses, cell populations split off and take on different forms, functions, biochemistry, and gene regulation to fit their new purpose. Our bodies differentiate cells into different lineages precisely when it is developmentally necessary. You don't want to turn the clock in reverse. That's a disease state and a hallmark of cancer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_lineage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_lineage On the subject of developmental biology, this is a really fun image if you aren't familiar: http://www2.hawaii.edu/~pine/book1qts/embryo-compare.html http://www2.hawaii.edu/~pine/book1qts/embryo-compare.html
- amts 4y ago
  >> You don't want to turn the clock in reverse. That's a disease state and a hallmark of cancer. Well, you actually do want to turn the clock in reverse. That's a hallmark of the highest so far methodology standard in science: if you want to position that you gained a full understanding of an object, you need to be able to reverse engineer it both in space and time. Many cancers contain senescence associated secretory phenotype (SASP) and senolytic drugs have been researched to be able to neutralize cancer cells as well as senescent cells. You do want to turn the clock in reverse, only maybe not the whole way back to the embryonic state, but a couple of formal years or decades back to reset the epigenome, and this is exactly what David Sinclair, Vittorio Sebastiano and many others are undertaking now.
  - mensetmanusman 4y ago
    “That's a hallmark of the highest so far methodology standard in science: if you want to position that you gained a full understanding of an object, you need to be able to reverse engineer it both in space and time.” We can’t even do this with simple black box game playing AIs, so a new paradigm may be needed.
    - amts 4y ago
      Oh, with AI game players, can't you just insert a print statement in code to simultaneously log all weights' changes and their accompanying changes in performance etc in a file and get another AI like some multi-parameter regression to search for correlations in it?
trenchgun 4y ago
> Would the person develop the vim is this how hackers are born?
danmur 4y ago
It could be much worse, they could develop emacs instead of vim

by sowbug 4y ago

mjfl 4y ago

They would develop widespread teratomas similar to metastatic cancer, and die. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teratoma https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teratoma

debenedictis 4y ago
That teratoma link has quite disturbing pics.
- mariuolo 4y ago
  > That teratoma link has quite disturbing pics. From Ancient Greek τέρατος (tératos, “monster”). Aptly named, I would say.
- codethief 4y ago
  Make sure to also look at the German Wikipedia page. Two words: Teeth and hair.
KRAKRISMOTT 4y ago
Unless it is from a biological clone of you (or iPSC) and pre-treated with a chemical cocktail and used under carefully controlled conditions. This isn't the 1960s, we have a much better grasp of molecular biology and human development now. The fields of immunology and regenerative medicine have come a long way.
- coldtea 4y ago
  We do have a better grasp, but we're still in the "trying various things blindly and see what sticks" stage and will be for some time...
peteradio 4y ago
So you're saying superpowers?
- api 4y ago
  The superpower to grow tumors with hair in them.
  - Sakos 4y ago
    You know what, I think I'll pass.
  - thefounder 4y ago
    You've got to crack a few eggs to make an omelette
speedylight 4y ago
This should NSFW tbh.
whatshisface 4y ago
For anyone who wants to see the answer without looking at the, uhh, medical images, here's a quote: "Pluripotent stem cells including human induced pluripotent stem cells have a unique property of being able to generate teratomas when injected in rodents in the research laboratory.[62] For this reason, the so-called "teratoma assay" is one of the gold-standard validation assays for pluripotent stem cells.[63] Because differentiated human pluripotent stem cells are being developed as the basis for numerous regenerative medicine therapies, there is concern that residual undifferentiated stem cells could lead to teratoma formation in injected patients, and researchers are working to develop methods to address this concern.[64]"

echelon 4y ago

When you think about what the genome encodes, you have to appreciate the finely tuned timing and signalling of developmental biology. As development progresses, cell populations split off and take on different forms, functions, biochemistry, and gene regulation to fit their new purpose. Our bodies differentiate cells into different lineages precisely when it is developmentally necessary. You don't want to turn the clock in reverse. That's a disease state and a hallmark of cancer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_lineage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_lineage On the subject of developmental biology, this is a really fun image if you aren't familiar: http://www2.hawaii.edu/~pine/book1qts/embryo-compare.html http://www2.hawaii.edu/~pine/book1qts/embryo-compare.html

amts 4y ago
>> You don't want to turn the clock in reverse. That's a disease state and a hallmark of cancer. Well, you actually do want to turn the clock in reverse. That's a hallmark of the highest so far methodology standard in science: if you want to position that you gained a full understanding of an object, you need to be able to reverse engineer it both in space and time. Many cancers contain senescence associated secretory phenotype (SASP) and senolytic drugs have been researched to be able to neutralize cancer cells as well as senescent cells. You do want to turn the clock in reverse, only maybe not the whole way back to the embryonic state, but a couple of formal years or decades back to reset the epigenome, and this is exactly what David Sinclair, Vittorio Sebastiano and many others are undertaking now.
- mensetmanusman 4y ago
  “That's a hallmark of the highest so far methodology standard in science: if you want to position that you gained a full understanding of an object, you need to be able to reverse engineer it both in space and time.” We can’t even do this with simple black box game playing AIs, so a new paradigm may be needed.
  - amts 4y ago
    Oh, with AI game players, can't you just insert a print statement in code to simultaneously log all weights' changes and their accompanying changes in performance etc in a file and get another AI like some multi-parameter regression to search for correlations in it?

trenchgun 4y ago

> Would the person develop the vim is this how hackers are born?

danmur 4y ago

It could be much worse, they could develop emacs instead of vim