This section includes some quite old and well-established techniques of biotechnology, such as plant tissue culture, and also some of the newest and most controversial applications, such as human cloning. For decades, the techniques of tissue culture have enabled scientists to grow plant or animal tissues in test tubes for industry uses and medical research.
Tissue culture is also a key procedure in the genetic engineering of plants.
Here it is used to create a whole plant from a single transformed cell. Advances in the uses of traditional tissue culture for human applications are now focused on the culture of stem cells. Stem cells are special types of cells that provide tissue renewal and may be used to grow tissue or organ replacements. Stem cells can be isolated from blood, brain or muscle tissue, but can now also be cultured from early human embryos. Further developments in stem cell culture techniques are likely to pave the way for the growth of tissues or organs for transplantation and new treatments for serious illnesses such as Parkinson's, Huntington's, Alzheimer's and certain types of cancer.