The state of Missouri is up in arms about stem cell research. It's impossible to drive two blocks in a residential area without spotting a "Yes On 2" or "No Cloning" sign in someone's front yard. On November 7th, Missouri will vote on Amendment 2, a ballot initiative that will hugely affect the future of science in this state.

But what is stem cell research?

According to the Stem Cell Research Foundation's website, stem cells are unspecialized cells with two distinguishing characteristics: the capacity to replenish their numbers for long periods of time, and the ability to differentiate, which means transforming into specialized cells. Basically, this means that stem cells can be used to replace essential cells such as heart and nerve cells.

Opponents of the amendment claim that stem cell research is cloning. "If you ask a person on the street, 'what is a clone?' the vast majority of people will answer 'a baby who is a copy of a human being,'" says Marie Jennings, spokesperson for Stowers Institute of Medical Research. "That has nothing to do with stem cell research."

Jennings says that somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), a process by which a skin cell nucleus is placed in an unfertilized egg, creates a cluster of 150 cells called a blastocyst. This is the first step in cloning, but, Jennings says, "If [the blastocyst] stays in a petri dish and is not implanted in a uterus, it will never be anything more than a cluster of 150 cells....The ballot initiative prohibits any attempt to clone a human being by making it illegal to implant an SCNT in a uterus."

SCNT is one way to get blastocysts for stem cell research. The other, according to Jennings, is in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics. When a couple undergoes IVF, several blastocysts are created, and the doctor implants the one that appears to be most likely to succeed in a pregnancy. The couple may then decide what to do with the remaining blastocysts. They may decide to throw them away, keep them frozen indefinitely, allow another couple to use them, or they may donate them for research.

"It's all done through a process called informed consent, and they have total control over what happens with the blastocysts that have been created for them," says Jennings.

According to Jennings, although no human research has yet been conducted, there has been great success in stem cell research applications to animals.

"We anticipate that embryonic stem cell research will help us to treat and cure a broad range of diseases that result from the failure of specific cells in the human body," says Jennings; "diseases like diabetes, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, spinal cord injury, burns, and many more."

For more detailed information about the mechanics of stem cell research, visit http://www.stemcellresearchfoundation.org/About/FAQ.htm.

For more information about the ballot iniative, see our story.

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