Medical Regs & Ethics
In wake of new EU GMO restrictions, Wales proposes further tightening
On January 13, the European Union (EU) voted in favour of amending legislation in Europe that will allow Member States ...
Designer children? Will movement for 3-parent babies change how we view parenthood?
Last week members of the British House of Commons passed a bill legalizing mitochondrial DNA transfers--a process that combines three ...
Will gene-edited products be considered GMOs?
The genome engineering methods currently used, particularly in mammalian cells, are difficult and inefficient. This has led scientists to search ...
Is century-old remedy the solution to antibiotic resistance?
Since the discovery of penicillin in 1928, scientists have amassed a medical arsenal of more than 130 antibiotics. The drugs ...
Challenging popular beliefs about epigenetics
Dirk Schübeler and his group at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research (FMI) identify determinants that set epigenetic marks ...
Coming age of Xenotransplantation: Would you accept an organ from a pig to save your life?
21 people die every day in the US awaiting a transplant. A shortage of organs means a shortage of organs ...
Was Beethoven’s music inspired by genetic mutations for arrhythmia?
Arrhythmia is a largely a genetic condition that can greatly hinder--or in the rare case of Beethoven, inspire--life. New research ...
Light-activated genes in bacteria engineered with CRISPR-Cas9
Scientists may have taken a step closer to making science fiction a medical reality. Researchers at Duke University have developed ...
Drug-resistant malaria may pose enormous threat, doctor warns
Despite a sharp drop in malaria-related deaths over the past decade, a veteran doctor here, in the heart of the ...
Cloned white Angus could double beef production in 10 years
Dr. James West, associate professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University and chief science officer of CAG, has developed a way ...
DNA testing under fire in wake of fake herbal supplements investigation
An investigation using DNA barcoding of four giant retailers--Walmart, GNC, Target and Walgreen's--finds most supplements do not contain the herbs ...
Precision medicine is a big step in the right direction
Re “ ‘Moonshot’ Medicine Will Let Us Down” (Op-Ed, Jan. 29): Michael J. Joyner asserts that precision medicine, an exciting ...
What’s lurking in New York City’s subway?
The Wall Street Journal released an interactive map of the bacteria in New York’s subway system. And as expected, it's ...
How oncologists sort through masses of genetic data
Whether they are concerned with a mutation of a single gene, or mutations in a combination of two or more ...
More potential health benefits found from drinking red wine
Researchers at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine report that a compound found in common foods such as ...
In retrospect, Obama’s personalized medicine initiative is nothing new
In the State of the Union speech delivered on January 20, President Obama made the first announcement of what seems ...
Woman’s rapid weight gain raises questions over fecal transplant
The case of a normal-weight woman who rapidly became obese after receiving a fecal transplant from an overweight relative has ...
Drugs from where?! Female genitals may be source of uniquely effective antibiotic
Despite the yuck factor, bacteria that colonize our bodies are proving to be an effective source of medical treatments including ...
‘Precision medicine’ initiative to analyze over 1 million DNA samples
The United States has proposed analyzing genetic information from more than 1 million American volunteers as part of a new ...
Neurological impact of premature birth starting to become known
Thanks to medical advances since the 1970s, premature infants — those born before 37 weeks of gestation — are increasingly ...
United Kingdom first to approve “3-person IVF babies”
The UK is now set to become the first country to introduce laws to allow the creation of babies from ...
Circadian desynchrony: Can obesity be treated with electricity?
Could a key factor in the obesity epidemic be attributed to the disruption of our metabolic functions (which are intended ...
“No consensus on GMO safety”? University of Florida’s Kevin Folta claims activist scientists spin facts
The world's esteemed scientific organizations have made bold statements regarding the scientific consensus on transgenic crops. The National Academies of ...
Paralysis-causing virus proving difficult to identify
Since August 2014, more than 100 children and young adults in the United States have developed a mysterious paralysis. Many ...
Finding a happy medium in regulation of stem cell research
When I started blogging in 2010 the stem cell arena was a very different place. Back then the hot topic ...
Breakthrough in breast cancer research reveals epigenetic link
Decoding the letters of the human genome revolutionised scientists' understanding of the role of genetic mutations in many diseases, including ...
That ‘Precision Medicine’ initiative? A Reality Check
What, precisely, is Precision Medicine? It's pretty much everything. The ambition of the plan is admirable, but the hurdles in ...
