There’s a great meeting going on today here at UC Davis starting soon on CRISPR, focused on the intersection of the science with bioethical and legal issues. I’ve been helping to organize this meeting, but kudos and thanks go to my colleague Mark Yarborough who took the lead in organizing the meeting and did most […]
Blogging UC Davis CRISPR Science & Bioethics Meeting Read More »
The Nuffield Council on Bioethics has released an open call for information and comments on genetic modification, including on humans and other organisms. I strongly encourage readers to participate and voice your opinions, regardless of whether you lean toward caution or taking risks on genetic modification. Your input will be important for how the Nuffield
Below is a conversation with bioethics commentator Kelly Hills (who BTW has a great blog), tackling some of the key issues surrounding the potential use of CRISPR-Cas9 technology to make heritable human genetic modification. I really appreciate her clear and insightful answers to some tough questions that many are grappling with today on this topic. Part
Kelly Hills interview: human genetic modification & bioethics Read More »
In the coming weeks and months, I am going to run a series of posts (some interviews, some guest posts) on human cloning, the reproductive type. This is the kind of cloning where you take a person (living or dead) such as, let’s say Lady GaGa or Jesus, and you try to make a duplicate
Series on scientific & bioethics leaders discussing human cloning Read More »
Who decides what to name something new in science like “human embryo models”? Also, not to get too philosophical right off the bat, but what is the point of a name? It’s about a shared understanding of what we’re talking about. But, very often, both out in the world and in the various fields of
Beyond naming: embryo models and the importance of public dialogue Read More »
It feels like we are marching towards a future in which key aspects of human reproduction, including the use of artificial wombs, could be substantially different than for most of history. The FDA is considering allowing a clinical trial for use of artificial wombs in people. Human trials of artificial wombs could start soon. Here’s
Weekly reads: artificial wombs, mice with rat brains, Neuralink Read More »
I wrote recently about how political pressure on FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn in 2020 may have helped the Texas firm Direct Biologics move their product ExoFlo forward inside the agency. Today I analyze the ExoFlo Phase I clinical trial paper used in that push on Hahn to get the firm the IND for a Phase II
Review of ExoFlo paper used to push Direct Biologics IND inside FDA finds red flags Read More »
If you’ve never heard of the KRAS G12C mutation, it’s a particularly frightening mutation present in numerous cancers. Like the MYC oncogene, many people view mutations in RAS as undruggable, but new efforts show some glimmers of hope. The drug Sotorasib has been approved by the FDA to target the KRAS G12C mutation. Here’s a
Weekly reads: KRAS G12C, eLife journal controversy, bird iPSCs Read More »
Today’s post is on the lighter side with some humor on funny autocorrect fails related to science. It’s surprising sometimes how far certain tools can lag behind cutting-edge science. Spellcheck tools are useful, of course, but they don’t always know what to do with STEM words. The same is true of tools like Grammarly, although it
Funny autocorrect fails in STEM: the gremlin organdy fiasco Read More »
The news of the week relates to an interim clinical trial report from gene-editing firm Editas on its CRISPR trial for a form of vision loss. On to that in a minute. What have you been reading the past week? Below, I include our weekly list of recommended reads. However, first I wanted to give
The Niche weekend reads: Editas mess, The Niche updates, papers Read More »