What is one to do when the equivalent of the Surgeon General of the UK calls one’s concerns about something, in this case 3-person IVF, “bunk”? It sure gave me some pause. What’s going on? First, some brief background. The debate over 3-person IVF/mitochondrial transfer technology has been getting more heated. The epicenter for the discussion …
UK Surgeon General Calls My Concerns on 3-person IVF “Bunk” Read More »
Here’s some thought-provoking weekend reading. ALEXEY. CLINICAL CELL PROCESSING NEWS – PART 1, 2015 BIOPOLITICAL TIMES. MITOCHONDRIAL MISSION CREEP AND THE CLONING CONNECTION CALIFORNIA STEM CELL REPORT. CALIFORNIA’S BOB KLEIN PROPOSES $100 BILLION, INTERNATIONAL STEM CELL/GENOMICS VENTURE CARL ZIMMER. A NEW THEORY ON HOW NEANDERTHAL DNA SPREAD IN ASIA DN LEE. YOU SHOULD KNOW: MICHELLE HUNTER AND EXPLORING NEUROSCIENCE THROUGH …
The still mysterious BioGatekeeper had challenged Yamanaka’s IPS cell patent claiming that it was obvious. The potential implications were huge given the commercial interest in translating IPS cell technology. For background see here, here, and here. There’s pretty much zero information on BioGatekeeper otherwise. Despite the potential seriousness of this patent challenge, just a few days …
Challenge of Yamanaka Patent by BioGatekeeper Fails Read More »
NatureNews is a science news outlet so I’ve been wondering what the heck the deal is with their strongly biased news coverage of the mitochondrial transfer 3-person IVF technology debate. By way of context, I like NatureNews and am a regular reader, but their coverage of the mitochondrial transfer debate has been completely one-sided and inaccurate. Their …
It’s been somewhat of a helter-skelter time for the new technology often referred to as 3-person IVF or mitochondrial transfer as the UK considers whether to legalize this experimental technology for use in humans. I believe that this technology is not ready now for use in humans and for more background on why as well …
This was a crazy week for me. I’m mostly taking today off, meaning “only” working a few hours on a Sunday. I submitted an R01 application on Tuesday. This is a huge grant application that is a major undertaking to write and put together. Getting it out the door this week was a big relief. Fingers …
There was a time I used to watch Countdown with Keith Olbermann on a regular basis and for a few years, I really enjoyed it. After a while I kind of lost interest. Today Olbermann does a sports show on ESPN and it’s just not the same. He also seems like he’s not the same …
The UK Parliament just voted to legalize the production of genetically modified human beings. To my knowledge, this is the first time in history that such a vote has given the green light to make GMO human beings in any country of the world. There are other hurdles before this method can actually be used including the …
Human GMO Method Given OK by UK Parliament in Historic Vote Read More »
A new piece came out yesterday on the Wellcome Trust Blog, strongly promoting approval of so-called “3-Parent IVF” or Mitochondrial Transfer technology by the UK Parliament. As I written in the past (here and here), my view is that this would be a mistake at this time. There is room for respectful disagreement on this issue between scientists, …
What’s the deal with the tension between José Silva and Jacob Hanna over pluripotency? Researchers probing how to reprogram cells into powerful stem cells (induced pluripotent stem cells or IPSCs) and what the molecular mechanisms are behind this process have become entangled in a conflict. Of course over the years scientists including stem cell scientists have …
Silva Comments on MBD3/NuRD Debate with Jacob Hanna Read More »