UK doctors select first women to have “three-person babies”
Two women carrying mutations that cause rare genetic disease to undergo radical therapy
Doctors in Newcastle have been granted permission to create Britain’s first “three-person babies” for two women who are at risk of passing on devastating and incurable genetic diseases to their children.
The green light from the fertility regulator means that doctors at the Newcastle Fertility Centre will now attempt to make healthy embryos for the women by merging fertilised eggs created through …
NEJM Debates Repairing Human Germlines
BioEdge.com Michael Cook 11-18-17
With the rapid advance in gene-editing technology, the time has come to consider how to ethical trials, according to an editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine. Bryan Cwik, a philosopher at Portland State University, in Oregon, zeroes in on some unprecedented difficulties in designing trials of modifying the human germline.
Cwik argues that “intergenerational monitoring” will be needed, not just of the first generation of modified children, but of …
Deletion of a Stem Cell Factor Promotes Traumatic Brain Injury Recovery in Mice
Science Daily UT Southwestern Medical Center November 17, 2017
UT Southwestern molecular biologists today report the unexpected finding that selectively deleting a stem cell transcription factor in adult mice promotes recovery after traumatic brain injury (TBI).
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines TBI as a bump, blow, or jolt to the head that disrupts normal brain function, ranging from mild — brief changes in mental status — to severe, marked by an extended
Investigating Patterns of Degeneration in Alzheimer’s Disease
Science Daily Brigham & Women’s Hospital November 17, 2017
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is known to cause memory loss and cognitive decline, but other functions of the brain can remain intact. The reasons cells in some brain regions degenerate while others are protected is largely unknown. In a paper to be published in Stem Cell Reports, researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital have found that factors encoded in the DNA of brain cells contribute to …
‘Chemical surgery’ Used to Mend Harmful Mutations in Human Embryos
The Guardian Ian Sample Science Editor 9-28-17
Scientists have used the technique, also known as ‘base editing’, for the first time in human embryos to change a single letter in a faulty gene.
Researchers in China have used a procedure described as “chemical surgery” to mend harmful mutations in human embryos for the first time.
The scientists found that it was possible to repair a faulty gene that gives rise to a serious blood disorder …
The CRISPR revolution: Getting ahead of the ethical curve
CWR Sister Renee Mirkes 9-25-17
If you’ve been following science headlines, you know that the CRISPR revolution is a real speedboat, clipping along at a breakneck pace. The aim of this essay is to equip this CRISPR ship with moral ballast before it runs afoul of ethical hazards (Part Two). To do that, we have to first school ourselves in facts and concepts about genetic engineering in general and CRISPR-Cas9 in particular (Part One).
Part …
Ectogenesis: The End of the Abortion Debate?
BioEdge.org by Xavier Symons | 28 Oct 2017
Ectogenesis, or the gestation of fetus in an environment ex utero, was once an idea confined to the realm of science fiction. But research involving the incubation of premature lambs in artificial gestation bags has made pundits think that fetal development ex utero may soon be possible.
The possibility of ectogenesis raises significant ethical questions, such as this: “will ecogenesis allow us to reconcile pro-choice and pro-life …
The Ethical Issues of CRISPR/Cas9 Technology:Aspiring Towards Perfection or Annihilation?
NCER President Carol Szczepaniak, recently had the opportunity to present at the 4th Annual Biopharmaceutical Research & Development Symposium at the University Nebraska Medical Center for the Department of Pharmceutical Sciences: College of Pharmacy.
Following is the abstract for her presentation on this widely debated topic making news across the world. If you would like to learn more about this or any other topic that NCER reports please contact us to speak for your group.…
CRISPR Gene Editing Can Cause Hundreds of Unintended Mutations
Science Daily May 29, 2017 Columbia University Medical Center
As CRISPR-Cas9 starts to move into clinical trials, a new study published in Nature Methods has found that the gene-editing technology can introduce hundreds of unintended mutations into the genome.
“We feel it’s critical that the scientific community consider the potential hazards of all off-target mutations caused by CRISPR, including single nucleotide mutations and mutations in non-coding regions of the genome,” says co-author Stephen Tsang, MD,
The Fertility Doctor Trying to Commercialize Three-Parent Babies
Bioethics.com June 26,2017 MIT Technology Review
A U.S. fertility doctor has started a company with a provocative vision for older women: become pregnant by having their DNA shifted into a young woman’s egg. The company, Darwin Life, was quietly established last year by John Zhang, also founder of a New York City clinic called New Hope Fertility Center, to deploy a cutting-edge fertility technology called “spindle nuclear transfer.” Originally developed as a way to prevent …