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What do you know?

Once you've read these pages thoroughly and carried out the activities, try these questions to test what you know. Click the button at the bottom of the page to get your score, and to see the correct response to any question you got wrong.

Question 1
Stem cell research has a high media profile, but how long has it actually been with us? When were the first embryonic stem cells cultured in the laboratory by scientists in the USA?
a) 1980
b) 1989
c) 1990
d) 1998

Question 2
At which stage of embryonic development are the stem cells usually removed?
a) 1 to 3 days
b) 4 to 6 days
c) 12 to 14 days
d) 3 to 4 weeks

Question 3
What is the source of the most commonly used adult stem cell?
a) bone marrow
b) blood
c) brain
d) liver

Question 4
Scientists and doctors hope that stem cell therapy may be able to cure or prevent many different diseases. Which of the following conditions is stem cell therapy unlikely to be able to help?
a) Parkinson's disease
b) heart disease
c) liver failure
d) pneumonia

Question 5
What term is used for the process where an embryo is created using DNA from a patient and an empty ovum, and embryonic stem cells are then removed from the embryo?
a) cloning
b) DNA extraction cloning
c) therapeutic stem cell cloning
d) therapeutic stem cell DNA

Question 6
What is the term used to describe undifferentiated embryonic cells which are capable of differentiating into any of the cell types needed in the adult body?
a) multipotent
b) totipotent
c) pluripotent
d) potent

Question 7
Which of the following statements is NOT an advantage of using embryonic stem cells rather than adult stem cells experimentally and for treatments?
a) they are pluripotent rather than multipotent
b) methods have been developed to culture them in the laboratory
c) they are relatively easily available from early embryos
d) there are a number of ethical issues linked to their use

Question 8
In therapeutic stem cell cloning the embryonic stem cells which result have identical DNA to the patient donor who needs new tissues. What benefit would this technique have over the more common method of culturing embryonic stem cells?
a) the cells could be grown more rapidly
b) the technique doesn’t involve human embryos
c) there would be no rejection problems as the DNA will match perfectly
d) people find it more acceptable

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