Daily Human Digest
Every day, the staff of the Genetic Literacy Project scours the Web for stories on a range of human genetics issues, including gene editing, regulations and bioethics, gene therapy, epigenetics, personal genomics, evolution, ancestry and artificial intelligence. We publish excerpts of those stories and encourage our readers to visit the original publications for the complete stories.
Company gets OK from New Zealand for stem-cell therapy
Osiris Therapeutics, Inc. has received approval for its stem-cell therapy drug in New Zealand, the second country to approve the ...
Midwest patient receives successful stem cell transplant to cure sickle cell disease
Chicagoan Ieshea Thomas is the first Midwest patient to receive a successful stem cell transplant to cure her sickle cell ...
Chemists use nanopores to detect DNA damage
Scientists worldwide are racing to sequence DNA -- decipher genetic blueprints -- faster and cheaper than ever by passing strands ...
Genetic testing of far-right Hungarian politician provokes an uproar
If you think running for office in the United States is rigorous, then you haven't met Hungary's far-right Jobbik party ...
Is Gattaca becoming real?
The popular 1997 science fiction film Gattacaportrays a futuristic world in which human beings genetically engineered (GE) with certain desirable ...
Genetic test to better detect HIV in donated blood
Chinese health authorities are promoting advanced methods to test blood supplies to help ensure blood safety and reduce HIV infections ...
European geneticists condemn use of testing to establish ‘racial purity’
The use of genetic testing to establish racial origins for political purposes is not only scientifically foolish, but also unethical ...
Variations in sex steroid gene expression can predict aggressive behaviors
An Indiana University biologist has shown that natural variation in measures of the brain's ability to process steroid hormones predicts ...
Parasitic plants ‘steal’ genes from their hosts
New research published today in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Genomics reveals that the Malaysian parasitic plant Rafflesia cantleyi, ...
Researchers urge EU not to cut stem cell funding
Leading scientists, biomedical research bodies and patient groups urged the European Parliament on Friday to maintain vital European Union funding ...
Scientists make breakthrough with retinal tissues from stem cells
A research team said it has produced stratified retinal tissues from human embryonic stem cells for the first time in ...
Personal Genomics: DNA helps Michelle Obama discover white ancestral roots, provides window into history of slavery
One of the remarkable innovations brought on by the DNA revolution is the ability to trace our personal and family ...
Knowing yeast genome produces better wine
The yeast Dekkera bruxellensis plays an important role in the production of wine, as it can have either a positive ...
Stem cells stay alive for 17 days in dead bodies
Scientists have revealed that some stem cells can lay dormant for more than two weeks in a dead person and ...
GM crops: Bring on the beneficial bugs
Chinese scientists have developed a new type of GM cotton engineered to make its own chemical protection against cotton pests ...
“Friendly” stem cells help others in times of stress?
Stanford postdoctoral scholar and cancer researcher Bikul Das, PhD, published some interesting findings in Stem Cells this morning regarding the ...
Human microbiome project provides census of thousands of microbes that live in and on us
It was a major feat when more than a decade ago, scientists deciphered the first human genome, containing 22,000 or ...
Embryonic stem cells hold great promise for biomedical science
With their potential to treat a wide range of diseases and uncover fundamental processes that lead to those diseases, embryonic ...
Vein grown from stem cells saves 10-year-old girl
Doctors in Sweden have replaced a vital blocked blood vessel in a 10-year-old girl using the first vein grown in ...
Stroke patients see ‘improvements’ after stem cell trial
The first patients to take part in a clinical trial of a stem cell treatment for stroke have seen reductions ...
Timeline: A brief history of stem cell research
From early fetal tissue research to the first successful human treatments, this timeline documents the progress in stem cell science, ...
Older dads may produce offspring with long lives, study suggests
Fathers who wait until they're almost 40 to have children may provide a unique benefit to their offspring: longer lives ...
Cell transplantation of lung stem cells has beneficial impact for emphysema
When autologous (self-donated) lung-derived mensenchymal stem cells (LMSCs) were transplanted endoscopically into 13 adult female sheep modeled with emphysema, post-transplant ...
Is genetic testing for dementia appropriate?
Would you want to know if you had a genetic risk factor forAlzheimer's or dementia? And, if you did know, ...
The epigenetic jury is still out on C-sections
Unbeknownst to Bennett, giving his wife a C-section might have affected their daughter’s DNA, her children’s and her grandchildren’s. People ...
A brief history of stem cell research
The stories of research involving human embryonic stem cells and the policy governing that work are intertwined and stretch back ...
Let’s get real on synthetic biology
EXCITING but terrifying. Powerful but scary. This is what some say about the emerging field of synthetic biology. Not surprising, ...
