‘Roundup Ready’ Humans? What the heck does that mean? One of my favorite parts of doing a blog is getting reader comments. It definitely makes the blogging experience more fun and keeps me on my toes. I also learn a lot. The more discussion there is, the better. One of the most frequent commenters is […]
‘Roundup Ready’ Humans? Read More »
Last week was a big one for the life sciences in that we saw the milestone of the first ever published paper reporting human embryo genetic modification (see here and here). It was one of those situations where we knew it was coming, but it was still a jolt. Not surprisingly this event sparked intense discussion
4 areas of debate on 1st human embryo genetic modification paper Read More »
The paper that came out Wednesday from a research group in China reporting the first genetic modification of human embryos has sparked a lot of discussion. Some concerns about this paper have surfaced. 2-day review? The paper (HT to John Borghi) was in review only from March 30-April 1 — so at most 48 hours. Really? That certainly
Concerns surface on Chinese paper on genetic modification of human embryos Read More »
There is a big old blind spot in the discussion over germline gene editing in humans: preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). There’s been a lot of talk in 2015 about worries over how gene editing technology such as CRISPR might be used prematurely in the clinic in an unsafe or unethical manner in humans in the
The big blind spot on CRISPR for human embryo editing: PGD Read More »
Rumors have been flying for months that researchers in China and possibly elsewhere were shopping papers around at high-profile journals that reported gene editing and genetic modification of human embryos. Update: apparently this paper (HT to @JohnBorghi) was only reviewed for 2 days (see image at bottom of post), raising major concerns about the depth of
Researchers in China make genetically modified human embryos Read More »
I invited the Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) of Bioheart, Kristin Comella, to do an interview after hearing some buzz that this could be a critical time for the company and that it might have been recently visited by the FDA. Note that Comella not just Bioheart CSO, but also the primary instructor for physician training in stem
Interview with Bioheart CSO, Kristin Comella including on FDA Read More »
Hockey legend Gordie Howe had a devastating stroke last fall and supposedly a stem cell treatment in Mexico from for-profit stem cell businesses, Stemedica and Novastem, caused a remarkable recovery in Howe. It has been one of the most hyped stem cell stories in history. What really happened? Today a new article on a fresh investigation into this story
Gordie Howe family reportedly invested in Stemedica Read More »
Controversial TV physician Dr. Mehmet Oz hasn’t had a great year what with his disastrous testimony before Congress. (2020 Update; Dr. Oz recently had a good show on stem cell clinics so that’s something. I discussed issues with his staff prior to the show.) Now Dr. Oz has been slammed by a group doctors from
Doctors call for Dr. Oz to be booted from Columbia Read More »
I’m doing a series of interviews with leaders in the field on human germline modification with the first interview in this series with George Church and today’s second in this series is a conversation I had with Dr. Jennifer Doudna, a pioneer in CRISPR-Cas9 technology. Doudna is a Professor in MCB and Chemistry as well
Jennifer Doudna Interview on CRISPR, Human Gene Editing Read More »
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how the future of human reproduction might be very different from today’s reality due to recent technological advances including cloning. Things like human cloning (the reproductive, “Star Wars” kind) and human genetic modification seem very real now. It feels almost imminent in a sense compared to the milleenia
Daisuke Takakura 高倉 大輔 Powerfully Captures Cloning Read More »