In Search For Cures, Scientists Create Embryos That Are Both Animal And Human
NPR Rob Stein All Things Considered May 18th, 2016
A handful of scientists around the United States are trying to do something that some people find disturbing: make embryos that are part human, part animal.
The researchers hope these embryos, known as chimeras, could eventually help save the lives of people with a wide range of diseases.
One way would be to use chimera embryos to create better animal models to study how human diseases …
Scientists are Conducting Experiments on Living Unborn Human Beings and Bragging About It
LifeSite News BIOETHICS Wesely Smith May 6, 2016
During the great embryonic stem cell research debate, promoters of an unlimited license to experiment promised that using nascent human life as research subjects would be limited to the first 14 days.
Until then, we were told, human embryos aren’t really human, just a “ball of cells”–pure junk biology. Well, if one wants to become truly reductionist, so are all of us.
During that era, I and …
Welcome to the CRISPR Zoo!
Nature Sara Reardon 3/09/2016
Timothy Doran’s 11-year-old daughter is allergic to eggs. And like about 2% of children worldwide who share the condition, she is unable to receive many routine vaccinations because they are produced using chicken eggs.
Doran, a molecular biologist at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Geelong, Australia, thinks that he could solve this problem using the powerful gene-editing tool CRISPR–Cas9. Most egg allergies are caused by one of …
CRISPR: The New Tool in the Gene Editing Revolution Explained
ABC Science By Bernie Hobbs Updated 11 Apr 2016, 11:03pm
A powerful new gene-editing technology called CRISPR has enormous potential to treat human diseases but the ability to tinker with genes can also be controversial. Here we explain what CRISPR is and how it works.
Since gene technology first emerged over 40 years ago we’ve seen a wealth of genetic advances — not least of all the decoding of the human genome in 2001.
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Vaccines List
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Panel on Infant Lives Meets in Washington
BioEdge.org March 12, 2016 by Xavier Symons
Professor G. Kevin Donovan of Georgetown University testifying before the panel.
The US Senate Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives met for the first time last week, in a heated session that saw several experts testify against the procurement of fetal tissue for research. The panel was convened following the release of several videos apparently capturing Planned Parenthood employees negotiating the sale of tissue to private research firms.…
Characteristics and Viral Propagation Properties of a New Human Diploid Cell Line, Walvax-2, and its Suitability as a Candidate Cell Substrate for Vaccine Production
National Library of Medicine, National Institute of Health 11/4/2015
Ma,B1, He LF, Zhang YL, Chen M, Wang LL, Yang, HW, Yan T, Sun MX, Zheng CY
Abstract
Human diploid cell strains (HDCSs), possessing identical chromosome sets known to be free of all known adventitious agents, are of great use in developing human vaccines. However it is extremely difficult to obtain qualified HDCSs that can satisfy the requirements for the mass production of vaccines. We have
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. …