Ethicists Approve ‘3 Parent’ Embryos to Stop Diseases, but Congressional Ban Remains
The Washington Post Feb 3, 2016 by Joel Achenbach
An elite panel of scientists and bioethicists offered guarded approval Wednesday of a novel form of genetic engineering that could prevent congenital diseases but would result in babies with genetic material from three parents.
The committee, which was convened last year at the request of the Food and Drug Administration, concluded that it is ethically permissible to “go forward, but with caution” with mitochondrial replacement techniques …
NCER Open Letter to FDA Committee Regarding Gene Editing
Attn: Michael Berrios
The Committee on Ethical and Social Policy Considerations of Novel Techniques for Prevention of Maternal Transmission of Mitochondrial DNA Diseases
Dear Committee Members:
There are at least five reasons why the Board of Directors of the Nebraska Coalition for Ethical Research recommends that the FDA deny licensure for the use of mitochondrial techniques in U.S. fertility clinics or research laboratories.
- The pronuclear transfer technique of mitochondrial replacement (MR) involves the
Insulin-producing pancreatic cells created from human skin cells New cells prevented the onset of diabetes in an animal model of the disease
Science Daily Jan 6, 2016 Gladstone Institute
Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have successfully converted human skin cells into fully-functional pancreatic cells. The new cells produced insulin in response to changes in glucose levels, and, when transplanted into mice, the cells protected the animals from developing diabetes in a mouse model of the disease.
Functioning human pancreatic cells after they’ve been transplanted into a mouse are shown. …
Sylvester Stem-Cell Patients Celebrate Their Transformed Lives
Miami Herald Jan 14, 2016 By Glenn Garvin
Keith Oliver, patient 500 to receive a stem-cell transplant for Hodgkin’s lymphoma at the University of Miami’s Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. Oliver was one of many patients celebrating their new lives Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016, at a reunion of stem-cell transplant patients. PEDRO PORTAL pportal@elnuevoherald.com
It wasn’t quite all about the hair when a hundred or so former patients gathered at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center Thursday
MS Patient Became First Scot To Successfully Have Radical Stem Cell Treatment Hailed by Medical Experts
Daily Record Jan 25, 2016 By David Taylor
Multiple sclerosis patient Lucy Clarke is the first Scot to successfully have the radical stem cell treatment that’s being hailed as “miraculous” by experts. Medics are now hopeful that it could eradicate the degenerative neurological condition.
Lucy, from Inverness, had to raise £40,000 for treatment in Moscow as she didn’t qualify for a trial in the UK. But now she’s able to live a more pain-free life …
Sheffield Medics Help Paralysed Patients Walk Again
The Star Jan 19, 2016
Paralysed multiple sclerosis sufferers are walking again thanks to life-changing treatment in Sheffield.
A trial at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital has seen 20 patients receive bone marrow transplants using their own stem cells in a bid to ‘re-boot’ their immune systems, which has helped some people walk again.
The trial is also being run in the US, Sweden and Brazil.
Professor Basil Sharrack, from the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, said: “To …