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The Vatican Stem Cell Meeting…is mixing religion and science a good idea?

October 23, 2011 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 3 Comments

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 […]

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Beyond naming: embryo models and the importance of public dialogue

October 15, 2024 / Parmin Sedigh / Leave a Comment

mouse embryo models, human embryo models

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

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Lawmaker indicted for selling fake stem cells for COVID & more

February 4, 2021 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 1 Comment

patricia derges indictment for fake stem cells sm

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

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GOP reps to Trump: fire NIH Director Collins for stem cell research support

May 23, 2017 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 13 Comments

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

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Hateful politics infiltrate human genome editing debate in France

June 27, 2016 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 1 Comment

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”

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UC Davis CRISPR meeting: Vital Role of Language in CRISPR

May 27, 2016 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D.

Here is another of my blog posts from yesterday’s CRISPR meeting on ethics, science, and policy 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

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Austen Heinz of Cambrian Genomics Interview: GMO creatures & people

January 14, 2015 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 5 Comments

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

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The myth of scientists as atheists

September 17, 2013 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 30 Comments

Are all scientists as atheists? Definitely not. 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?

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What are VSELs and why are more clinics selling them?

July 24, 2013 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 6 Comments

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

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Alienable: how personifying corporations & zygotes robs real people of their rights

September 13, 2012 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 2 Comments

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

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