Biomedical Regulations & Ethics
Privacy concerns? Genetic testing companies pressed by US lawmakers
Pressure is growing on direct-to-consumer genealogy and genetic testing companies to be more transparent about their privacy policies, after the ...
Facing accusations that its cancer designations are politicized, WHO’s IARC may lose US funding
Members of the House Appropriations Committee are threatening to withhold funding for the International Agency for Cancer Research (IARC), whose ...
Viewpoint: ‘Indigenous Ways of Knowing’ fad threatens to undermine rigorous medical science
[There is one form of] special pleading that is gaining some currency, and that’s basically carving out an exception to ...
With gene drives, we could delete’ an entire invasive species. Should we?
In a windowless London basement, behind three sets of locked steel doors and a wall of glass, thousands of Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes cling ...
Viewpoint: Science hype doomed startup that promised to upload brains ‘to the cloud’
This past March, headlines suddenly flooded the Internet about a startup company called Nectome. Founded by two graduates of the ...
Are biosimilar drugs reliable replacements for their pricier counterparts?
Biologics are complex molecules, modifying our immune responses to specific chronic inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, or irritable ...
Viewpoint: New director of International Agency for Research on Cancer, under fire for promoting cancer fears, likely to maintain status quo
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a World Health Organization subsidiary mired in controversy, picked Dr. Elisabete Weiderpass ...
Genetically engineered monkeys? China is using them for autism research
[MIT genetics researcher Guoping] Feng now travels to China several times a year, because there, he can pursue research he ...
Viewpoint: Do-it-yourself biotech movement an ‘unlikely biosecurity threat’
Contrary to alarmist headlines, the DIYbio movement is an unlikely biosecurity threat. The 'do-it-yourself' biology (DIYbio) community has had its ...
Patenting the genes of marine creatures and why it could matter for research
From the tiniest microbe to the biggest whale, the ocean is teeming with life. For corporations and researchers, that biodiversity is ...
Can we figure out how to get new drugs to the market faster?
Have you heard the oft-repeated “fact” that it takes at least 10 years from initial discovery for a new drug ...
Fears of ‘designer babies’ are surfacing again
"What we're seeing is a fast slide down a very slippery slope toward designer babies," warned Marcy Darnovsky. … What has alarmed ...
Right to try? Drug companies can’t be forced to let terminal patients try experimental treatments
Just after her second birthday, additional testing, including an MRI of her brain and spine followed by a genetic analysis, ...
Challenging the claim that a sex robot is the ‘perfect companion’
Sex doll maker Realbotix, in its marketing materials, bills [sex doll] Harmony as “the perfect companion.” But healthy companionship is too ...
Inside the Ukrainian clinic creating controversial ‘3 parent’ babies
In a clinic on a side street in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, doctors are doing something that, as far ...
Viewpoint: Biohackers are interested in science education, not planning the ‘next global apocalypse’
Some people call me a biohacker. My colleagues like the term because it sounds cool, and journalists like it because ...
Video: How gene drives could use ‘selfish’ genes to eradicate malaria
The invention of the CRISPR gene editing tool has injected new life into a line of research called gene drive ...
We need transplantable organs. How far should we go to get them?
Human organs are vital to saving human lives, but how far should we go to create them? ...
Genetically modified mosquitos could eliminate malaria, if we’re willing to take risk
[Kevin] Esvelt is a biologist at MIT and the first person to formulate a technology known as a CRISPR gene ...
How do you know ‘pseudoscience’ when you see it?
Ontario Correactology Health Care Centres offer 'natural' ways to manage pain, but they're not scientifically proven ...
Australia’s fight against feral cats could turn to gene drive technology
Feral cats kill thousands of native animals every minute — now a controversial plan to use gene drive technology as ...
Home biohacker: Creating deadly human pathogens ‘is not that easy’
Using the handy tools sent in [the ODIN’s Genetk Design Kit], I was set to re-engineer some nonpathogenic E. coli ...
Preventing Alzheimer’s: Is Lisa Mosconi’s ‘brain food’ diet anything more than pseudoscience?
Lisa Mosconi has a web and media presence and a book Brain Food: The Surprising Science of Eating for Cognitive Power ...
Major human CRISPR trial derailed by FDA—at least for now
You’ve heard it before: CRISPR has the potential to change our lives for the better. But first, we have to give it ...
What the search for the Golden State Killer means for public DNA databases and law enforcement
Law enforcement and genetic genealogists didn’t waste any time after public DNA databases led to the Golden State Killer suspect... A ...
Hemophilia gene therapies put on fast track to FDA approval
The Food and Drug Administration will soon be alerting companies that certain gene therapies in development can qualify for less ...
Meet the doctor leading research on ethically fraught ‘three-parent’ babies
When future historians look back on the 21st century, one of the most iconic photos may be of a smiling, ...
Who owns the DNA of ancient humans—and do they have rights?
The remains of a 6-inch long mummy from Chile are not those of a space alien, according to recently reported ...
