Question: hi, what do you mean when you say that youre looking at stem cells that eat suger? do you mean that controls the sugar, like a pancreas, for example someone that has diabeties.

David Christensen answered on 12 Nov 2013:

Hi katiealexander,
Thanks for the question.
Sorry, if you misunderstood me before! I’ll try to explain it better this time. All cells of our bodies require nutrients, like sugar, as an energy source and organs like the liver and the pancreas control how much sugar is in our blood and reaches the cells through the circulation.
Just like other cells, human embryonic stem cells need to eat sugar to produce energy to survive, but the cells I grow in the lab are in a dish and don’t have a blood supply to bring them glucose sugar. Instead I give the cells a liquid that contains glucose sugar. Every scientist that grows cells in the lab feeds their cells with a similar sugar-containing liquid, because all cells need and eat sugar.
The interesting thing with embryonic stem cells is that they seem to need to eat a lot more sugar than most other cells. My research is now to trying to find out why they need so much sugar and also how they are able to control how much sugar they eat.

I hope I’ve answered your question!