GENET news: Human

31.12.2007

The year in biotech

Genomics Gets Really Personal
The Microbial Menagerie
Stem Cells without Embryos
Jump-Starting the Damaged Brain
Human Genetic Variation

31.12.2007

DNA pioneer James Watson is blacker than he thought

JAMES WATSON, the DNA pioneer who claimed Africans are less intelligent than whites, has been found to have 16 times more genes of black origin than the average white European. An analysis of his genome shows that 16% of his genes are likely to have come from a black ancestor of African descent. By contrast, most people of European descent would have no more than 1%. The study was made possible when he allowed his genome - the map of all his genes - to be published on the internet in the interests of science.

14.12.2007

San Diego company formed around breakthrough in embryonic stem cell research

Cascade LifeSciences is the exclusive worldwide licensee of Dr. Mitalipov’s technology related to SCNT reprogramming as well as a second method of generating embryonic stem cells using an approach known as parthenogenesis. [...] Dr. Donald Wolf, Ph.D. a retired OHSU primate center scientist who helped author the Nature paper, and currently chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of Cascade LifeSciences, commented ”Dr. Mitalipov’s new technology provides a solid basis for the development of human SCNT-ESC lines that may ultimately save thousands of human lives.”

14.12.2007

Personal DNA data soon available to all Icelanders

deCode Genetics in Iceland is joining a handful of other companies breaking into the market of genetic information databases that are available to members of the public. A new start-up called 23andMe, which is backed by Google, is making genetic information available to those who want to know about their genetic predisposition to certain illnesses and conditions.

27.11.2007

Halted U.S. gene therapy study to resume

A gene therapy study halted after an arthritis patient died will resume with one main change: participants won’t get injections if they have signs of infections, the treatment’s developer said Monday. While an investigation indicated gene therapy injections didn’t kill the patient, Targeted Genetics Corp. is being cautious in resuming the study of what it considers a potentially promising treatment for inflammatory arthritis.

22.11.2007

On James Watson’s views on human genetics and society

He says that he is ”inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa” because ”all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours – whereas all the testing says not really”, and I know that this ”hot potato” is going to be difficult to address. His hope is that everyone is equal, but he counters that ”people who have to deal with black employees find this not true”. He says that you should not discriminate on the basis of colour, because ”there are many people of colour who are very talented, but don’t promote them when they haven’t succeeded at the lower level”. He writes that ”there is no firm reason to anticipate that the intellectual capacities of peoples geographically separated in their evolution should prove to have evolved identically. Our wanting to reserve equal powers of reason as some universal heritage of humanity will not be enough to make it so”.

22.11.2007

Are scientists playing god? It depends on your religion

American and European researchers have made most of the progress so far in biotechnology. Yet they still face one very large obstacle — God, as defined by some Western religions. While critics on the right and the left fret about the morality of stem-cell research and genetic engineering, prominent Western scientists have been going to Asia, like the geneticists Nancy Jenkins and Neal Copeland, who left the National Cancer Institute and moved last year to Singapore.

22.11.2007

News on stem cell research

For all the excitement, big questions remain about how to turn this week’s stem cell breakthrough into new treatments for the sick. And it’s not clear when they’ll be answered. Scientists have to learn more about the new kind of cell the landmark research produced. They have to find a different way to make it, to avoid a risk of cancer. And even after that, there are plenty of steps needed to harness this laboratory advance for therapy. So if you ask when doctors and patients will see new treatments, scientists can only hedge.

21.11.2007

Dolly’s creator gives up his cloning to focus on stem cells

The scientist who created Dolly the sheep is abandoning cloning in favour of a new ethical technique which produces stem cells without an embryo. Professor Ian Wilmut has decided that the method he pioneered 10 years ago is no longer the best way to grow a patient’s own cells and tissues to help treat a range of medical conditions. Instead, he is planning to switch to a revolutionary and less controversial technique - developing cells from fragments of skin.

16.11.2007

OHSU scientists create primate embryonic stem cells

Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University’s Oregon National Primate Research Center have made a significant breakthrough in efforts to develop human stem cell therapies that may be used to combat numerous devastating diseases. For the first time, scientists have successfully derived embryonic stem cells by reprogramming of genetic material from skin cells while studying rhesus macaque monkeys. The breakthrough follows several previously unsuccessful attempts by the OHSU-based team and other scientific teams worldwide.

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