Why does it worry me that the Vatican is having a stem cell conference? One of the hallmarks of Democracy is separation of church and state. When states mix religion into politics and government, the results have during human history been disastrous. Equally dismal has been the relationship between religion and science. Ever since the …
The Vatican Stem Cell Meeting…is mixing religion and science a good idea? Read More »
A grand jury indicted Missouri state representative and assistant physician Patricia Derges for allegedly selling and injecting patients with fake stem cells. The injection was reportedly just of amniotic fluid, but Derges allegedly claimed it was a stem cell treatment. NBC News was one of several media outlets that broke the story here after the …
Lawmaker indicted for selling fake stem cells for COVID & more Read More »
Should there be a religious or moral litmus test for the NIH Director? A few dozen super conservative Republican members of Congress have written a letter to President Trump saying he should fire NIH Director Francis Collins. Why? Because they claim that Collins is not conservative enough for their taste and in particular they don’t …
GOP reps to Trump: fire NIH Director Collins for stem cell research support Read More »
By Elliot Hosman Summary. A campaign calling for a moratorium on using CRISPR in human embryos was launched by a prominent French organization fighting for narrow understandings of life and family. A recent campaign calling for a ban on “transgenic” human embryos was launched by one of France’s most prominent organizations fighting for “science”-backed “one-man-one-woman” …
Hateful politics infiltrate human genome editing debate in France Read More »
Here is another of my blog posts from yesterday’s CRISPR ethics, science, and policy symposium held here at UC Davis. You can read the others here, here, and here. Note as with the other posts, since I was taking notes as listening and on the fly, this post is a stream of consciousness on what …
UC Davis CRISPR Mtg: Vital Role of Language in CRISPR Read More »
What’s Cambrian Genomics? With rapid advances in genomics, gene editing, and methods to reproduce life in the lab such as cloning, today creating genetically modified organisms (GMOs) has never been easier. While there have been of course loads of discussions of GMOs in the past, we are entering a new era of what one might …
Austen Heinz of Cambrian Genomics Interview: GMO creatures & people Read More »
I confess.I am a scientist and I am not an atheist. Uh oh! Am I asking to be burned at the stake….er, over the lab Bunsen burner? Why is there such a persistent myth that scientists must be atheists? Or is it that good scientists must be atheists? And by good, I don’t mean top …
One of the more controversial areas in the stem cell field has been over a stem cell type that only a handful of researchers have been able to find and study: very small embryonic-like stem cells or VSELs. These days some are calling them V-cells too. I’ve been getting an increasing number of questions from …
What are VSELs and why are more clinics selling them? Read More »
In the U.S. Declaration of Independence three “inalienable rights” are said to be endowed on people: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. People also have other rights in the U.S. including freedom of speech and religion. These rights seem clear enough, but wait a minute….what are “people”? What entity qualifies as a “person” to …
Alienable: how personifying corporations & zygotes robs real people of their rights Read More »
The founder of Korean stem cell corporation, RNL Bio, Dr. Jeong-Chan Ra, may be most well-known in the U.S. for his association with Texas Stem Cell Clinic, Celltex, which gave Guv Rick Perry his stem cell transplant. RNL Bio is also the first major company to be sued in U.S. federal court for fraud over …