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Get Your Lines Approved

Sep 22, 2009

NIH launched a new website where researchers can submit requests for approval of human embryonic stem cell lines, notes Science Progress. The site, http://stemcells.nih.gov/, is up and running, and accepted lines may be used in federally-funded projects. Also, the new members of the Working Group for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Eligibility Review were announced. The group will be led by the University of Utah School of Medicine Jeffrey Botkin. The Bioethics blog of The American Journal of Bioethics notes that Botkin and two other working group members are "card-carrying bioethicists." "What will this mean for the quality of the review, time will only tell, but it certainly means that ethics will be at the forefront and values questions will certainly be at the center of the debate," blogger Summer Johnson writes.

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The Scan

Study Finds Few FDA Post-Market Regulatory Actions Backed by Research, Public Assessments

A Yale University-led team examines in The BMJ safety signals from the US FDA Adverse Event Reporting System and whether they led to regulatory action.

Duke University Team Develops Programmable RNA Tool for Cell Editing

Researchers have developed an RNA-based editing tool that can target specific cells, as they describe in Nature.

Novel Gene Editing Approach for Treating Cystic Fibrosis

Researchers in Science Advances report on their development of a non-nuclease-based gene editing approach they hope to apply to treat cystic fibrosis.

Study Tracks Responses in Patients Pursuing Polygenic Risk Score Profiling

Using interviews, researchers in the European Journal of Human Genetics qualitatively assess individuals' motivations for, and experiences with, direct-to-consumer polygenic risk score testing.