What Is a SHEEF, and Why Should We Care?
D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A. Executive Director
Human embryo research has long been guided by what is known as the “14-day rule.” That is, various nations have allowed research on embryos up to 14 days post fertilization. The 14-day rule was put in place ostensibly in order to avoid causing pain for the developing embryo. The primitive streak — the first visible evidence of gastrulation and the formation of differentiated tissues in the embryo — appears at about day 15 after fertilization. (See video at the bottom of this post for more information.)
When the 14-day rule was put in place, laboratories were ...read more
It Has Arrived: Gene Editing Recommendations Published
D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A. Executive Director
The committee appointed to advise our government regarding the editing of genes, including editing the genes of the human embryo, has published a draft report (see the title page screen shot above). We at The Tennessee Center for Bioethics & Culture are studying the document’s 261 pages, and have a few caveats to share with our readers. Germline gene editing was given cautious approval by the committee:
Heritable germline genome editing trials must be approached with caution, but caution does not mean they must be prohibited. (p. 102)
and
If the technical challenges are ...read more
What’s Happening with Physician-Assisted Suicide?
Mrs. Jane Patton is a Vanderbilt University graduate, a nurse, and worked most recently in clinical research. Her interest in bioethics began in college with thinking through Roe v. Wade and the inherent value of human life. She has done further work in bioethics, and now volunteers with The Tennessee CBC. Below, Jane Patton addresses recent developments in physician-assisted suicide.
—
Here we are in 2017, loaded with the benefits of technological innovation. In healthcare the movement is at warp speed such that we can be like frogs in the proverbial frying pan, not taking to heart the implications of such rapid and ...read more
CRISPR — Who’s in Charge? (Part IV)
D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A. Executive Director
This is part IV of our report. View part I, part II, or part III.
The ability to edit genes using CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) has been in the news for more than a year. A committee has been appointed to advise our government regarding the editing of genes, particularly editing the genes of the human embryo.
Who are the members of that committee? What are their views? The Tennessee Center for Bioethics & Culture has been working to gather information for you, our readers.
Here is a brief look at some of the writings and organizational ...read more
CRISPR — Who’s in Charge? (Part III)
D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A. Executive Director
This is part III of our report. View part I, part II, or part IV.
The ability to edit genes using CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) has been in the news for more than a year. A committee has been appointed to advise our government regarding the editing of genes, particularly editing the genes of the human embryo.
Who are the members of that committee? What are their views? The Tennessee Center for Bioethics & Culture has been working to gather information for you, our readers.
Here is a brief look at some of the writings and organizational ...read more
CRISPR — Who’s in Charge? (Part II)
D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A. Executive Director
This is part II of our report. View part I, part III, or part IV.
The ability to edit genes using CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) has been in the news for more than a year. A committee has been appointed to advise our government regarding the editing of genes, particularly editing the genes of the human embryo.
Who are the members of that committee? What are their views? The Tennessee Center for Bioethics & Culture has been working to gather information for you, our readers.
Here is a brief look at some of the writings and organizational ...read more
Taking stock: Where are we now?
D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A.
Taking stock of where one is at the beginning of a new project or a new year is a good idea. Where we are in the entire realm of bioethics is beyond the scope of one blog post, but what follows are some landmarks discernible in January 2016…
Physician-Assisted SuicideOn Sunday, 24 January, John Jay Hooker, Tennessee lawyer, politician, and activist, died. Mr. Hooker had most recently championed “death with dignity” — physician-assisted suicide — in a proposed bill and in the courts. By the time of his death, neither the legislature nor the courts had provided ...read more
We Were There…
As the year 2015 comes to a close, we at The Tennessee Center for Bioethics & Culture look back over a year of involvement in a number of important bioethics issues.
1) We were there when the Tennessee Senate Health and Welfare Committee met in Legislative Plaza Room 12 on 9 June 2015 to hear testimony regarding “Death with Dignity,” otherwise known as Physician-assisted Suicide (P-AS). We heard the testimony of John Jay Hooker and others promoting the bill. The Tennessee Center for Bioethics & Culture stayed after a prominent news anchor and her television crew left the hearing. We stayed so we ...read more
Gene-editing summit supports some research in human embryos — Nature News
By Sara Reardon
3 December 2015
Read here.
CRISPR: What is it? Who decides what we do with it?
D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A.
What is it?Imagine a word processor for genes, where you could search for a defective gene, find the mutation, cut it out, and replace it with the proper DNA sequence. The cutting and replacing part of the process is what CRISPR and its associated (Cas) systems do. They are enzymes used to clip out particular sections of DNA in a cell’s nucleus, and replace the removed sections with other DNA segments, presumably replacing “defective” DNA with “good” DNA.
Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) were first described in 2012, and the technique was used in human ...read more
