Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T17:00:33.594Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Stem Cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 May 2021

Melinda Bonnie Fagan
Affiliation:
University of Utah

Summary

What is a stem cell? The answer is seemingly obvious: a cell that is also a stem, or point of origin, for something else. Upon closer examination, however, this combination of ideas leads directly to fundamental questions about biological development. A cell is a basic category of living thing; a fundamental 'unit of life.' A stem is a site of growth; an active source that supports or gives rise to something else. Both concepts are deeply rooted in biological thought, with rich and complex histories. The idea of a stem cell unites them, but the union is neither simple nor straightforward. This book traces the origins of the stem cell concept, its use in stem cell research today, and implications of the idea for stem cell experiments, their concrete results, and hoped-for clinical advances.
Get access
Type
Element
Information
Online ISBN: 9781108680783
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication: 27 May 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahmadi, AR, Chicco, M, Huang, J, Qi, L, Burdick, J, Williams, GM, Cameron, AM, and Sun, Z (2019). Stem cells in burn wound healing: A systematic review of the literature. Burn 45: 10141023.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Andrews, P (2002). From teratocarcinomas to embryonic stem cells. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B 357: 405417.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blasimme, A, Schmietow, B, and Testa, G (2013). Reprogramming potentiality: The co-production of stem cell policy and democracy. American Journal of Bioethics 13: 3032.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borgés, J-L (1998). On exactitude in science. In, Borges, Jorge Luis, Collected Fictions (Trans. Hurley, H.) New York: Penguin Books, 325.Google Scholar
Boveri, T. (1892). Über die Entstehung des Gegensatzes zwischen den Geschlechtszellen und die somatischen Zellen bei Ascaris megalocephela. Sitzungsberichte der Gesellschaft für Morphologie und Physiologie in München 8: 114125.Google Scholar
Brandt, C (2012). Stem cells, reversibility, and reprogramming. In Mazzolini, R, and Rheinberger, H-J (eds.), Differing Routes to Stem Cell Research: Germany and Italy. Bologna: Società editrice il Mulino, 5591.Google Scholar
Brown, N, Kraft, A, and Martin, P (2006). The promissory pasts of blood stem cells. BioSocieties 1: 329348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brumbaugh, J, Di Stefano, B, and Hochedlinger, K (2019). Reprogramming: Identifying the mechanisms that safeguard cell identity. Development 146: dev182170.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bursten, J (ed.) (2019). Perspectives on Classification in Synthetic Sciences. Routledge, London and New York.Google Scholar
Can, A (2008). A concise review on the classification and nomenclature of stem cells. Turkish Journal of Hematology 25: 5759.Google Scholar
Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine Glossary (2012). Stem cell. Regenerative Medicine, 7, S1S124.Google Scholar
Chang, H (2004). Inventing Temperature. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Coleman, W (1977). Biology in the Nineteenth Century: Problems of Form, Function, and Transformation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Cooper, M (2003). Rediscovering the immortal Hydra. Configurations 11: 126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crisan, M, and Dzierzak, E (2016). The many faces of hematopoietic stem cell heterogeneity. Development 143: 45714581.Google Scholar
De Luca, M, Aiuti, A, Cossu, G, Parmar, M, Pellegrini, G, and Robey, PG (2019). Advances in stem cell research and therapeutic development. Nature Cell Biology 21: 801811.Google Scholar
Downes, S (1992) The importance of models in theorizing: a deflationary semantic view. Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association, Vol. 1992, Volume One: Contributed Papers, 142153Google Scholar
Dröscher, A (2002). Edmund B. Wilson’s “The Cell” and cell theory between 1896 and 1925. History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, 24: 357389.Google Scholar
Dröscher, A (2012). Where does stem cell research stem from? In Mazzolini, R, and Rheinberger, HJ (eds.), Differing Routes to Stem Cell Research: Germany and Italy. Bologna: Società editrice il Mulino, 1954.Google Scholar
Dröscher, A (2014). Images of cell trees, cell lines, and cell fates: The legacy of Ernst Haeckel and August Weismann in stem cell research. History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 36: 157186.Google Scholar
Doudna, J (2020). The promise and challenge of therapeutic genome editing. Nature 578: 229236.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dupré, J, and Nicholson, DJ (2018). A manifesto for a processual philosophy of biology. In Nicholson, DJ, and Dupré, J (eds.), Everything Flows. Oxford: Oxford University Press 345.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
European Stem Cell Network (2016). Stem cell glossary. Available at www.eurostemcell.org/stem-cell-glossary#letters. Accessed March 13, 2016.Google Scholar
Fagan, MB (2007). The search for the hematopoietic stem cell: Social interaction and epistemic success in immunology. Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 38: 217237.Google Scholar
Fagan, MB (2010). Social construction revisited. Philosophy of Science 77: 92116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fagan, MB (2011). Social experiments in stem cell biology. Perspectives on Science 19: 235262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fagan, MB (2013a). Philosophy of Stem Cell Biology. London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Fagan, MB (2013b). The stem cell uncertainty principle. Philosophy of Science 80: 945957.Google Scholar
Fagan, MB (2015a). Crucial stem cell experiments? Stem cells, uncertainty, and single-cell experiments. Theoria 30: 183205 (Special Section: Philosophy of Experiment).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fagan, MB (2015b). Explanatory interdependence: the case of stem cell reprogramming. In Braillard, Pierre-Alain, and Malaterre, Christophe (eds.), Explanation in Biology: An Enquiry into the Diversity of Explanatory Patterns in the Life Sciences. Dordrecht: Springer, 387412.Google Scholar
Fagan, MB (2016a). Cell and body: Individuals in stem cell biology. In Guay, A, and Pradeu, T (eds.), Individuals across the Sciences. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 122143.Google Scholar
Fagan, MB (2016b). Generative models: Human embryonic stem cells and multiple modeling relations. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, Part A, 56: 122134.Google Scholar
Fagan, MB (2017). Stem cell lineages: Between cell and organism. Philosophy and Theory in Biology 9, Special Issue: Ontologies of Living Beings. www.philosophyandtheoryinbiology.org.Google Scholar
Fagan, MB (2018). Individuality, organisms, and cell differentiation. In Bueno, Otávio, Chen, Ruey-Lin, and Bonnie Fagan, Melinda (eds.), Individuation across Experimental and Theoretical Sciences. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 114136.Google Scholar
Fagan, MB (2019). Stem cell lineages and classification. In Bursten, J. (ed.), Perspectives on Classification in Synthetic Sciences: Unnatural Kinds. New York: Taylor and Francis, 114135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fagan, MB (2020). Organoids: A vital thread in a generative fabric of models. Published in German (trans. Anja Pichl), in Organoide: Ihre Bedeutung für Forschung, Medizin und Gesellschaft (Organoids: Their Importance for Research, Medicine and Society), edited by Bartfeld, S, Schickl, H, Alev, C, Koo, B-K, Pichl, A, Osterheider, A, and Marx-Stölting, L. Baden-Baden: Nomos, 149–170Google Scholar
Franklin, S (2013). Biological Relatives: IVF, Stem Cells, and the Future of Kinship. Durham: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Giere, RN (2010). An agent-based conception of models and scientific representation. Synthese 172: 269281.Google Scholar
Godfrey-Smith, P (2006). The strategy of model-based science. Biology and Philosophy 21: 725740.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guay, A, and Pradeu, T (eds.) (2016). Individuals across the Sciences. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hacking, I. (1983). Representing and Intervening. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Haeckel, E (1876). The History of Creation, translation revised by E. Ray Lancaster (Vol. 2). New York: D. Appleton and Co.Google Scholar
Haeckel, E (1905). The Evolution of Man, translated from the 5th (enlarged) edition by McCabe, Joseph (Vol. 2). New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons.Google Scholar
Harris, H (2000). The Birth of the Cell. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Hauskeller, C, Manzeschke, A, and Pichl, A (eds.) (2019). The Matrix of Stem Cell Research: An Approach to Thinking of Science and Society. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hooke, R (1665). Micrographia. London: The Royal Society of London.Google Scholar
Hopwood, N (2005). Visual standards and disciplinary change: Normal plates, tables and stages in embryology. History of Science, 43: 239303.Google Scholar
Hyun, I, Munsie, M, Pera, MF, Rivron, NC, and Rossant, J (2020). Toward guidelines for research on human embryo models formed from stem cells. Stem Cell Reports 14: 169174.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
International Society for Stem Cell Research (2016). Stem Cell Glossary. Available at www.isscr.org/visitor-types/public/stem-cell-glossary#stem. Accessed June 8, 2017.Google Scholar
International Society for Stem Cell Research (2020). Core Concepts in Stem Cell Biology: Syllabus and Learning Guide. Available for download at www.isscr.org.Google Scholar
James, W (1890). The Principles of Psychology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Jinek, M, Chylinski, K, Fonfara, I, Hauer, M, Doudna, JA, and Charpentier, E (2012). A programmable dual-RNA-guided DNA endonuclease in adaptive bacterial immunity. Science 337: 816821.Google Scholar
Keating, P, and Cambrosio, A (2003). Biomedical Platforms. Cambridge: The MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendig, C (2016). Activities of Kinding in Scientific Practice. In Kendig, C (ed.), Natural Kinds and Classification in Scientific Practice. London: Routledge, 113.Google Scholar
Kobold, S, Guhr, A, Kurtz, A, and Löser, P (2015). Human embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cell research trends: Complementation and diversification in the field. Stem Cell Reports 4: 914925.Google Scholar
Kraft, A (2009). Manhattan transfer: Lethal radiation, bone marrow transplantation, and the birth of stem cell biology, 1942–1961. Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences 39: 171218.Google Scholar
Kurtz, A, Seltmann, S, Bairoch, A, Bittner, M-S, Bruce, K, et al. (2018). A standard nomenclature for referencing and authentication of pluripotent stem cells. Stem Cell Reports 10: 16.Google Scholar
Lancaster, MA, and Knoblich, JA (2014). Organogenesis in a dish: Modeling development and disease using organoid technologies. Science 345: 1247125-1-8.Google Scholar
Landecker, H (2007). Culturing Life. How Cells Became Technologies. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Lanza, R, Gearhart, J, Hogan, B, Melton, D, Pederson, R, Thomas, E, Thomson, J, and Wilmut, I (2009). (eds.) Essentials of Stem Cell Biology, 2nd edition. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Lanza, R and Atala, A (2013) (eds.). Essentials of Stem Biology, 3rd ed. San Diego: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Liu, D (2018). Heads and tails. In Matlin, K, Maienschein, J, and Laubichler, M (eds.). Visions of Cell Biology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 209245.Google Scholar
Maehle, AH (2011). Ambiguous cells. Notes and Records of the Royal Society 65: 359378.Google Scholar
Maherali, N, and Hochedlinger, K (2008). Guidelines and techniques for the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells. Cell Stem Cell 3: 595605.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maienschein, J (2003). Whose View of Life? Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Martin, G (1981). Isolation of a pluripotent stem cell line from early mouse embryos cultured in medium conditioned by teratocarcinoma stem cells. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, US 78: 76347638.Google Scholar
Matlin, KS, Maienschein, J, and Laubichler, MD (eds.) (2018). Visions of Cell Biology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Maximow, A (1909) Der Lymphozyt als gemeinsame Stammzelle der verschiedenen Blutelemente in der embryonalen Entwicklung und im postfetalen Leben der Säugetiere. Folia Haematologica 8: 125141Google Scholar
Clinic, Mayo (2021). Patient care and health information: Bone marrow transplant. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/bone-marrow-transplant/about/pac-20384854. Accessed January 17, 2021.Google Scholar
Melton, D (2013). Stemness: Definitions, criteria, and standards. In Lanza, R, and Atala, A (eds.), Essentials of Stem Biology, 3rd ed. San Diego: Academic Press, 717.Google Scholar
Mesa, KR, Rompolas, P, and Greco, V (2015). The dynamic duo: Niche/stem cell interdependency. Stem Cell Reports 4: 961966.Google Scholar
Murry, CE, and MacLellan, WR (2020). Stem cells and the heart – the road ahead. Science 367: 854855.Google Scholar
National Institutes of Health (2016). US Department of Health and Human Services. Glossary. Stem Cell Information. Available at http://stemcells.nih.gov/glossary/Pages/Default.aspx. Accessed March 13, 2016.Google Scholar
Neto, C (2019). What is a lineage? Philosophy of Science 86: 10991110.Google Scholar
Nishizawa, M, Chonobayashi, K, Nomura, M, Takaori-Kondo, A, Yamanaka, S, and Yoshida, Y (2016). Epigenetic variation between human induced pluripotent stem cell lines is an indicator of differentiation capacity. Cell Stem Cell 19: 341354.Google Scholar
Nobel Foundation (2012). The 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine – Press Release. Nobelprize.org. October 10, 2012, www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2012/press.html.Google Scholar
O’Malley, MA (2014). Philosophy of Microbiology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pennisi, E (2018). Chronicling embryos, cell by cell, gene by gene. Science 360: 367.Google Scholar
Potten, CS, and Lajtha, LG (1982). Stem cells versus stem lines. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 397: 4961.Google Scholar
Potten, CS, and Loeffler, M (1990) Stem cells: attributes, cycles, spirals, pitfalls and uncertainties. Development 110: 10011020Google Scholar
Pradeu, T (2012). The Limits of the Self. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Rackham, O, Cahan, P, Mah, N, Morris, S, Ouyang, JF, Plant, AL, Tanaka, Y, and Wells, C (2021). Challenges for computational stem cell biology. Stem Cell Reports 16: 39.Google Scholar
Ramalho-Santos, M, and Willenbring, H (2007). On the origin of the term “stem cell.Cell Stem Cell 1: 3538.Google Scholar
Rao, M (2004) Stem sense: a proposal for the classification of stem cells. Stem Cells and Development 13: 452455.Google Scholar
Reynolds, AS (2007). The theory of the cell state and the question of cell autonomy in nineteenth and early twentieth century biology. Science in Context 20: 7195.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reynolds, AS (2018). The Third Lens. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Schwann, TH (1847). Microscopical researches into the accordance in the structure and growth of animals and plants. London: The Sydenham Society.Google Scholar
Science editors (2019). Special section: Approximating organs. Science 364: 946965.Google Scholar
Shamblott, M, Axelman, J, Wang, S, Bugg, E, Littlefield, J, Donovan, P, Blumenthal, P, Huggins, G, and Gearhart, J (1998). Derivation of pluripotent stem cells from cultured human primordial germ cells. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, US 95: 1372613731.Google Scholar
Simian, M, and Bissell, MJ (2017). Organoids: A historical perspective of thinking in three dimensions. Journal of Cell Biology 216: 3140.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Skloot, R (2010). The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Crown Publishing.Google Scholar
Sornberger, J (2011). Dreams and Due Diligence. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Steinle, H (2002). Experiments in history and philosophy of science. Perspectives on Science 10: 408432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stem Cell Reports Q&A (2020). A conversation with John Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka. Stem Cell Reports 14: 351356.Google Scholar
Takahashi, S, and Yamanaka, S (2006). Induction of pluripotent stem cells from mouse embryonic and adult fibroblast cultures by defined factors. Cell 126: 663676.Google Scholar
Takahashi, K, Tanabe, K, Ohnuki, M, Narita, M, Ichisaka, T, Tomoda, K, and Yamanaka, S (2007). Induction of pluripotent stem cells from adult human fibroblasts by defined factors. Cell 131: 861872.Google Scholar
Theo Murphy High Flyers Think Tank (2015). Recommendations. White paper (Australia).Google Scholar
Thomson, J, Itskovitz-Eldor, J, Shapiro, S, Waknitz, M, Swiergel, J, Marshall, V, and Jones, J (1998). Embryonic stem cell lines derived from human blastocysts. Science 282: 11451147.Google Scholar
Till, J, and McCulloch, E (1961). A direct measurement of the radiation sensitivity of normal mouse bone marrow cells. Radiation Research 14: 213222.Google Scholar
Trounson, A (2009). Why stem cell research? In Lanza, R, et al. (eds.), Essentials of Stem Cell Biology, 2nd ed. San Diego: Academic Press, p. xix.Google Scholar
Turner, L, and Knoepfler, P (2016). Selling stem cells in the USA. Cell Stem Cell 19: 14.Google Scholar
Valian, V (1997). Why So Slow? The Advancement of Women. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Waldby, C, and Cooper, M (2010). From reproductive work to regenerative labour. Feminist Theory 11: 322.Google Scholar
Warmflash, A, Sorre, B, Etoc, F, Siggia, E, and Brivanlou, AH (2014). A method to recapitulate early embryonic spatial patterning in human embryonic stem cells. Nature Methods 11: 847854.Google Scholar
Weisberg, M (2013). Simulation and Similarity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wilmut, I, Sullivan, G, and Chambers, I (2011). The evolving biology of cell reprogramming. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 366: 21832197.Google Scholar
Yin, X, Mead, BE, Safaee, H, Langer, R, Karp, JM, and Levy, O (2016). Engineering stem cell organoids. Cell Stem Cell 18: 2538.Google Scholar
Ying, Q-L, and Smith, A (2017). The art of capturing pluripotency: creating the right culture. Stem Cell Reports 8: 14571464.Google Scholar

Save element to Kindle

To save this element to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Stem Cells
Available formats
×

Save element to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Stem Cells
Available formats
×

Save element to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Stem Cells
Available formats
×