Discover stem cells

By the end of this lesson, you should…

 Know what a stem cell is
 Know about different types of stem cells
and where they are
 Know why stem cells are important
What we’re going to do today
 Stem cell decision maker – in groups
 Talk more about stem cells
 Types of stem cells – in groups
 Summary
 Your feedback
What stem cells can do
What is a stem cell?
Use the decision maker to find out

What’s under the flap?

• Stem cell  take another blood stem cell
• Any other cell  put your blood stem cell
in the cup with that cell type on it

You can only play if you still have a stem cell token!
 Why self-renew AND differentiate?
1 stem cell

4 specialized cells

1 stem cell
Self renewal – makes sure Differentiation - replaces dead or damaged
stem cells don’t run out cells throughout your life
Stem cells in your body = Tissue stem cells
surface of the eye brain

skin breast

muscles intestines (gut)

bone marrow
Blood stem cells: A type of tissue stem cell

blood stem cell red

differentiation blood
white blood cells
cells
found in
bone marrow
only specialized types of blood
cell
Blood stem cells in action
The blood challenge

How hard do your blood

stem cells work?
Let’s find out!
Blood stem cells have a big job!

If you lined up all the red

blood cells from your body,
how far would they stretch?

Image by Beeblebrox
Nearly 4 times around the earth’s
equator
Making red blood cells

How long does it take your body to How quickly can you
make 2 million red blood cells? count to 2 million?
Making red blood cells
To count to 2 million
We counted to 20 in…
it would take…
2 seconds 2 days
3 seconds 3 days
4 seconds 5 days
5 seconds 6 days
6 seconds 7 days

To make 2 million red blood

cells it takes your body…
1 second!
Your body is more than just blood!
Stem cells in your body
Cell families
• Shuffle and deal the cards face down.
• The player to the left of the dealer starts.
• On your turn, choose a card you don’t want
and give it to the person on your left.
• When you are given a new card: If you’ve got
a family of 4, put it down on the table for
everyone to see. Then choose a card to give
to the person on your left.
• Keep going until the cards are used up.

Keep it moving! You only have a short time to play.

Can your group be the first to get all the families?
Stem cells in your body

Where are the stem cells

in your body?
 Embryonic stem cells

skin

neurons
embryonic stem cells

ES cells can make many kinds of

specialised cells in the lab!
liver
What we’ve learnt today
 Stem cells can:
• Self-renew = copy themselves
• Differentiate = make other types of cell

 There are different kinds of stem cell:

• Tissue stem cells – in our bodies all our lives
– only make particular cell types
• Embryonic stem cells – in the early embryo
– can make all the cells of the body

 We need stem cells to…

• Replace cells that die or get damaged
• In the future, we might use them to treat diseases or test drugs