Last October, I broke news of a very exciting new technique for genetic screening of embryos. Genome-wide karyomapping, developed by Alan Handyside, of the Bridge Centre in London, potentially marks a step change for the field, as it has the capacity to transform the range of genetic mutations and variations that can be detected.

Critically, there is no need to know the precise sequence of a mutation or variation for which you wish to test. Instead, SNPs and haplotypes are used to track how an embryo’s chromosomes are put together, and whether sections that include the DNA in which you’re interested have been passed on. (Times Online)

It is common knowledge that, in nearly all developed countries, the number of persons older than 65 years is increasing, both in absolute terms and as a proportion of the general population. By some estimates, the number of those older than 65 years will double in the United States in the next 2 decades. While there have always been attempts to prolong longevity, there is now an increased interest—and ability—to improve the quality of those added years. [Premium (JAMA)]

General Electric Co (GE.N) is teaming up with U.S. biotech company Geron Corp (GERN.O) to use stem cells to develop products that could give drug developers an early warning of whether new medicines are toxic. (Reuters)

Trends in Biotechnology (Volume 27, Issue 7, July 2009) is now available by subscription only.

Articles Include:

• “Blood cell manufacture: current methods and future challenge” by Nicholas E. Timmins and Lars K. Nielsen, 415.
• “Production of self-assembling biomaterials for tissue engineering” by Stuart Kyle, Amalia Aggeli, Eileen Ingham, and Michael J. McPherson, 423.
• “Biotechnology under high pressure: applications and implications” by Abram Aertsen, Filip Meersman, Marc E.G. Hendrickx, Rudi F. Vogel, and Chris W. Michiels, 434.

Roll over, Mendel. Watson and Crick? They are so your old man’s version of DNA. And that big multibillion-dollar hullabaloo called the Human Genome Project? To some scientists, it’s beginning to look like an expensive genetic floor pad for a much more intricate—and dynamic—tapestry of life that lies on top of it. (Newsweek)

The brain maintains a physical map of the body, with different areas in charge of different body parts. Researchers have suggested that when we use tools, our brains incorporate them into this map. (New Scientist)

The first successful artificial heart implant in the nation outside of a clinical trial was undertaken by surgeons at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Jersey reported Abiomed Inc. (TopNews)

The Food and Drug Administration Transparency Task Force held the first of its two public meetings for public recommendations on how to increase transparency in decision making yesterday. At the meeting, Kristi Zonno, Director of Genetics and Health Policy at the advocacy group Genetic Alliance called for FDA to create a public registry of “genetic, genomic, and pharmacogenomics testing available to the U.S. market,” as well as make warning letters to pharmaceutical companies public in real time. (Science Progress)

It is unethical to stop healthy people from taking methylphenidate (Ritalin) to enhance their mental performance, says John Harris, Professor of Bioethics at the University of Manchester, in an article published on bmj.com today. He adds that society “ought to want [enhancement]” and that “it is not rational to be against human enhancement.” (Medical News Today)

The emerging field of synthetic biology will allow researchers to create biological parts and systems that do not occur naturally as well as to re-engineer existing organisms to perform novel and beneficial tasks. As the science and its applications develop, a comprehensive approach to addressing ethical and social issues is called for, especially if scarce intellectual resources are to be used optimally, according to a new report authored by Erik Parens, Josephine Johnston, and Jacob Moses of The Hastings Center. Synthetic biology promises significant advances in areas such as biofuels, specialty chemicals, agriculture, and medicine but has also raised concerns about potential ethical, social, environmental, and security implications. (PR Newswire)

By manipulating matter at less than a billionth of a meter, MIT scientists are using nanotechnology to create next-generation biomedical therapies that hold enormous promise and peril for Minnesota’s medical device industry. (PhysOrg)

Artificial Intelligence Review (Volume 28, Number 3, October 2007) is now available by subscription only.

Articles Include:

• “Human–Computer input and output techniques: an analysis of current research and promising applications” by Marco Porta, 197-226.

The story soft-pedals but makes its point, and then tells the tale it chooses to tell with grace and delicacy.

Here’s a term for you: “savior sibling” ~ a baby genetically matched to provide life-saving cord blood that could be transplanted into a sick brother or sister. (Examiner)

We are all ex-embryos and are all in the process of becoming, from conception to death; it’s clear we can’t ethically destroy human embryos for stem cell research. (Ottawa Citizen)

A network of artificial cells that work together to act as an AC/DC converter has been built. Demonstrating that synthetic cells can team up to achieve such feats is a step towards building synthetic tissues to interface biology with electronics, says the team of chemists behind the work. (New Scientist)

New York has become the first and only state to opt to pay women for eggs donated for human embryonic stem cell research. The Empire State Stem Cell Board (ESSCB), which oversees New York’s $600 million stem cell research program that was launched last year, came to the decision last week (June 11) following “extensive deliberation” from its ethics committee. (The Scientist)

Discarded fallopian tubes from hysterectomies could be a good source of donor stem cells, say researchers.

Work shows they are an abundant source of the immature cells that have the potential to become a variety of the body’s tissues, like muscle and bone. (BBC)

Amid controversies over embryonic stem cell research, drugs using adult cells are already bearing fruit. (CNN)

U.S. lawmakers tussled on Thursday over how long makers of biotechnology drugs should have an exclusive license for the expensive medicines in a hearing called to discuss a Federal Trade Commission report on the issue. (Reuters)

The race for biomedical and genetic enhancement will-in the twenty-first century-be what the space race was in the previous century, according to members of the World Future Society. Scientists can already screen fertilized human eggs for 1,000 genetic disorders. Within a decade, researchers will be able to detect most of the world’s congenital diseases in the embryo; this could will enable humans to live to ages of two hundred years old. Some genetics expert predict science will soon be able to genetically “enhance” embryos with the potential for super-intelligence, phenomenal strength, or preternatural ability. What is possible? What are the moral and ethical implications of these new technologies? (PR Leap)

The notions of biomedical enhancement and our possible posthuman future are very much, so to speak, topics du jour in the bioethical literature. Over the past few years a number of books have appeared that address the ethical issues that surround our using medical technology not simply to treat disorders, but to increase our capacities beyond their normal range, perhaps even to the point where we no longer can be counted as human. These include landmark works by John Harris (Enhancing Evolution) and Michael Sandel (The Case Against Perfection), along with other excellent and thought-provoking works by the likes of Jürgen Habermas and Francis Fukuyama, as well as a first-rate edited collection (Human Enhancement) produced by Julian Savulescu and Nick Bostrom. (Metapsychology)