The Dawning of the Era of Genetic Modification

by David Lemberg on July 5, 2010

In September 2007 I was the keynote speaker at The Molecular Convergence Conference at the University of Oklahoma, Tulsa. As I’m a lifelong lover of science fiction, I titled my talk “Science Fiction Becoming Science Fact”. Advances are now coming thick and fast. The exponential growth of information in many branches of science is at [...]

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Genetic Enhancement, Autonomy, and Society

by David Lemberg on July 5, 2010

Prenatal and postnatal genetic enhancement may ultimately result in a post-human society. These techniques remain in the science fiction realm for the foreseeable future, but a consideration of their implications is critically important for our ability to successfully manage their impact.
What might be good concerning genetic enhancement and what might be not so good? In [...]

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Genome-Wide Association Studies — Do They Live Up to the Hype?

July 5, 2010

As is typical of decision-making in clinical diagnosis, choices in clinical genetics are never straightforward and always lead to subsidiary questions. Similarly in genetics itself, as in physiology or biochemistry, an answer to a question leads to other questions about that answer, and investigators and clinicians are led deeper into the maze.
One undertakes the journey [...]

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Gamete Commodification — Deal or No Deal?

July 5, 2010

What’s so special about gametes that causes us to be concerned about their commodification? Commodification itself is not a bad thing. In free societies, supply-and-demand relationships precisely determine prices. [I'm presupposing the absence of monopolistic practices. In oil production and supply, for example, monopolistic practices skew prices considerably.]
We exchange goods and services all day long, [...]

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Sports Genes – Hype, Hoopla, and Hubris

July 5, 2010

The Indian legend of The Three Blind Men and the Elephant is an apt metaphor for any random collection of three biotechnology entrepreneurs. Each is raptly focused on his personal locus, blind to the deep complexity just beyond his grasp.
Of course, “entrepreneur” in the medical field is for many of us a code word for [...]

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Prenatal Genetic Testing — Ethical Considerations

July 5, 2010

Many commentators are concerned that physicians have an agenda when they discuss results of prenatal testing with their patients. Often, physicians have preconceived values regarding what should be an exclusively patient-centered arena. For example, many physicians are predisposed to recommend abortion when prenatal testing reveals the presence of genetic or structural anomalies that would result [...]

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Epigenetics — Traffic Signals on the DNA Highway

June 23, 2010

The genetic code contains only four letters. Organisms of staggering complexity are built from the detailed information contained in this four-letter alphabet. How this code is manifested requires many added layers of complexity and interaction with a host of variable systems.
Epigenetics describes modifications to chromosomal DNA that do not alter the genetic code, but persist [...]

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Gene Patents Compromise Your Health

June 23, 2010

Genes are patented. Not Lee’s or Levi’s — not those jeans. Sequences composed of adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine — those genes. How absurd. How indirectly nihilistic. Camus, Beckett, Ionesco, and Vonnegut are laughing up their ghostly sleeves.
Only in America. Well not quite only here. But close. The sad part is that patenting gene sequences [...]

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Medicaid — The Canary in the Coal Mine

June 23, 2010

The New York Times reported on 2-19-10 that virtually every state is making or planning significant cuts in Medicaid benefits.1 These actions are taking place while demand for Medicaid grows. This entitlement, originally conceived as a support for those in lower socioeconomic classes and disabled persons, now is a necessary lifeline for those formerly in [...]

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The Doctor–Patient Relationship and the Media

June 23, 2010

Revising the doctorpatient relationship is a very important conversation. It is worthwhile and instructive to first look at how the media — broadcast, print, and web sources — participate in and affect this relationship. Stating the obvious, there are good media and bad media. Mostly bad. The power and necessity of the 24-hour news churn [...]

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