Jeanne Deibert knew as soon as she saw the ultrasound. It didn’t matter that the doctor told her that what looked on the screen like pockets in her son’s brain would likely disappear as he got closer to birth. That things were probably fine. That she shouldn’t worry too much about her baby. She was his mother. And she felt certain that something was wrong.

As her pregnancy progressed throughout the winter of 2005, other tests raised more red flags until finally the phone rang one afternoon as she stood in the yard of her Seattle home. On the other end was a geneticist, confirming the results of her amniocentesis: the baby had Trisomy 18. (msnbc.com)

Dr. John Kelsoe has spent his career trying to identify the biological roots of bipolar disorder. In December, he announced he had discovered several gene mutations closely tied to the disease, also known as manic depression.

Then Kelsoe, a prominent psychiatric geneticist at the University of California, San Diego, did something provocative for the buttoned-down world of academic medical research: He began selling bipolar genetic tests straight to the public over the Internet last month for $399. (The Associated Press)

Are we being sold a bill of goods about the number of patients waiting for transplants in the United States? There is reason to think so.

The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) is the Richmond, Va.-based organization that holds the federal contract for distributing organs to those awaiting transplants in the U.S. UNOS says there are about 98,000 people who need transplants. But, a recent story in the Washington Post shows that about one-third of those are actually not eligible for an organ transplant on any given day. (MSNBC)

Therapeutic cloning has been successfully used to treat Parkinson’s disease in mice, US researchers say.

The study in Nature Medicine provides the best evidence so far that the controversial technique could one day help people with the condition. (BBC)

It is a bitter irony that even as we are enlarging our commitment to human equality in many areas, we are turning our backs on it in others. In particular, we may be about to eliminate from our society people with Down syndrome (DS) and other genetically caused disabilities. (Weekly Standard)

The Government is heading for its biggest confrontation with the Roman Catholic Church to date over its controversial new laws which will allow the creation of human-animal hybrid embryos. (Times Online)

The Office of the Medical Director at the March of Dimes National Office is seeking an intern for a special research project in perinatal bioethics.

POSITION PURPOSE: To participate in research on a topic in perinatal bioethics. As the mortality rate for extremely low-birthweight premature infants at gestational ages around the threshold of viability decreases and prognosis for future developmental outcome remains uncertain, should parents be permitted to withhold or withdraw aggressive intervention from 23 – 24 week gestation premature infants in the delivery room or neonatal intensive care? What substantive standards and procedural approaches might be appropriate to assist clinicians and families faced with such difficult decisions?

If you think you may be qualified and interested in this position, or know of someone who may be qualified, please contact:
Mary Jane Scott
March of Dimes
1275 Mamaroneck Avenue
White Plains, NY 10605
Fax (914) 997-4479
E-mail: recruiter@marchofdimes.com