Robert W. Sussman, a professor of anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis, says that science has struggled to understand the mysteries of “less-than-human” beings since the late 1400s when the Spanish Inquisition first formalized state persecution of Jews and Muslims. And while the horrors of Nazi Germany exposed fatal flaws in science’s quest to build the master race, the…
Cancer Voices Australia brought the case as it believed Myriad Genetics Inc, which owns the patent on the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 linked to breast and ovarian cancer had an unfair monopoly on a naturally occurring gene. It’s the first time the validity of genetic patents has been tested in an Australian court. Cancer Voices sought to void the genetic…
How old is too old? The 20th century added thirty years to life expectancy in the developed world, but are more candles on the birthday cake all we want? Some scientists think the body has a metabolic stop-sign at about age 122; others think that through new technologies, genetics, and robotics we can expand our longevity beyond 150 years. And…
A reporter from the MIT Technology Review discusses her experience of consumer genetics company 23andme, and reviews the future relationship between consumer genetics and the health industry. An excerpt follows, please click here for the full article. “For now, the biggest problem with consumer-friendly genetic products is simply that they may be medically inconclusive for most people. Indeed, I was…
Congratulations to ISG faculty Stefan Timmermans and Mara Buchbinder on the publication of their book, “Saving Babies?: The Consequences of Newborn Genetic Screening (Fieldwork Encounters and Discoveries)”. Abstract: It has been close to six decades since Watson and Crick discovered the structure of DNA and more than ten years since the human genome was decoded. Today, through the collection and analysis…
ISG fellow Stefan Timmermans is a contributing scientist on NPR’s “All Things Considered” discussing whole genome sequencing for babies. Parents who have their babies tested are faced with many questions, such as if and when to tell the child that all their genetic information is available or whether they, the parents, want to know all their child’s genetic information themselves. Read/Listen…