What is morally acceptable and where do we draw the line at behaviors that might just go too far such as human reproductive cloning? Over the years American attitudes have shifted on a number of potentially hot button moral behaviors including reproductive human cloning and pollsters including Gallup have tracked these attitudes. Gallup just came out …
Americans relatively more comfortable with human cloning Read More »
At a genetic level, just how much do each of us human beings vary from each other in our total genome sequence? The number I was taught in Genetics at some point was that the genomes of any two human beings are likely to be 99.9% identical. So only about 1 out of 1,000 bp …
How much human genetic variability is there really? Read More »
CIRM has reinvented itself in a new form, CIRM 2.0, under the leadership of its new President Randy Mills. CIRM is almost like a stem cell that has changed into another new kind of stem cell. Us scientists could see the change coming in the “programming” at CIRM in terms of how it was operating as …
The Obama Administration today weighed in on human germline genetic modification such as via CRISPR via a note from John Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The White House indicated support for the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the National Academy …
White House supports moratorium on heritable human CRISPR Read More »
The local paper, The Sacramento Bee (SacBee) just ran a piece on Monday on the GMO controversy. Few places are more in the thick of it than right here in Davis, CA and the Sacramento region more generally. Some of the earliest GMO plants were created right here in Davis including the Flavr Savr tomato. Monsanto …
As CRISPR gene editing technology has advanced in the last few years, the number of genetically modified animals made with this system has steadily increased. Some are very interesting and useful for science. At the same time especially when they are little, they can be very cute. A nickname is going around for these GM …
CRISPR critters: Cute pics of Cas9 gene edited animals Read More »
Many of us scientists, ethicists, and legal scholars are working on educational outreach to the public on the potential use of gene editing technologies like CRISPR to genetically modify human beings, but clearly there’s a long way to go and much more to do on this front. By the way, you may find this new …
Public polling on human gene editing, moratorium Read More »
Last Thursday I participated in a meeting at Stanford Law School on human germline genetic modification hosted by Hank Greely (pictured at left), Professor of Law and Genetics at Stanford. The meeting was entitled, “Human Germline Modification: Medicine, Science, Ethics, and Law”. The panel included in addition to Hank and me, the following speakers: Marcy Darnovsky, Executive Director of …
Stanford Human Germline Modification Meeting: Medicine, Science, Ethics, & Law Read More »
What is the “proper” amount of freedom of choice for patients in medicine? What if the treatments in question are experimental and come with their own baggage of associated risks, personal costs, and potential costs to society? More broadly, do patients have a fundamental right to medical choice? These questions seem particularly appropriate today on …
Could Apple computers be getting into the genomics biz? In March, I was thinking it’d be fun to do an April Fool’s Day post. I wrote the following as a possible satire spoof piece title but never had a chance to do an actual post: iPhone 7 To Come With iPhone 7ATGC Version with Personal …