I know that you can classify stem-cell research in the field of "nuclear medicine".

 

My question is, how, exactly, does it fit?

Not sure exactly what you're asking here. One type of similar research would fall under the category of Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer, which is quite close to the research being done on stem cells.

 

The idea is to take an unfertilized egg, replace its nucleus with material from a known type of cell, like a liver or heart or something, then wait until that egg starts to divide (since it now has a full set of chromosomes due to the replacement it should be able to), and then harvest those cells after they have begun dividing, either for medical or research use.

 

The idea behind the research currently is that this work may help us better understand how to convince undifferentiated embryonic stem cells to turn into differentiated, useful cells, which is one of the key steps that is still being worked on.

 

Beyond that, i'm not totally sure how else embryonic stem cell research fits into the category of research on a cell nucleus. Clearly, manipulation of the nucleus in some fashion is going to be important in figuring out how to make an embryonic stem cell turn into something useful.

I'll second Balta's confusion as to the question being asked. "Nuclear medicine" as it is usually defined doesn't have anything to do with cell nuclei. Rather it is referring to atomic nuclei and specifically to the nuclear properties of matter that allow different forms of "gamma camera" physiological medical imaging to be done.

 

Not sure how that ties in with stem cell research, but i hope that helps.

The term comes from the basic components of DNA and RNA, the Deoxyribonucleic acid. Nuclear medicine involves the nucleusof the molecule as stated above.

 

The reason that it is put in the larger more well known nuclear medicine is simple: money. When apllying for grants especially federal grants the broader the classification the more chances there are at obtaining the research money.

The term comes from the basic components of DNA and RNA, the Deoxyribonucleic acid. Nuclear medicine involves the nucleusof the molecule as stated above.

 

The reason that it is put in the larger more well known nuclear medicine is simple: money. When apllying for grants especially federal grants the broader the classification the more chances there are at obtaining the research money.

 

You may be right about the strategy to broaden funding possibilities, but I'll take you to task on the definition of the field of nuclear medicine. What you described is, broadly, within the fields of molecular biomedicine. In contrast, the term "nuclear medicine" traditionally refers to a subdiscipline within the field of radiology pertaining to the use of radioisotopes to either image the body or as part of radiation treatment therapy.

 

As per this entry on "How Stuff Works"

 

or this FAQ page from the Nuclear Medicine Research Council

 

or this entry from RadiologyInfo.com

 

or this entry from the Journal of Nuclear Medicine