A few days after successful fertilization, an embryo becomes a rapidly dividing ball of cells called a blastocyst.
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Scientists can create viable eggs from two male mice. In the wake of CRISPR controversies and restrictive abortion laws, two experts start a dialogue on ethical research in reproductive biology.
Participants in biobank studies are often asked for broad consent to use their data.
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Biobanks collect and store large amounts of data that researchers use to conduct a wide range of studies. Making sure participants understand what they’re getting into can help build trust in science.
A casual stroll on the beach can leave enough intact DNA behind to extract identifiable information.
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Environmental DNA provides a wealth of information for conservationists, archaeologists and forensic scientists. But the unintentional pickup of human genetic information raises ethical questions.
DNA editing has the capacity to treat many diseases, but how to do this safely and equitably remains unclear.
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Following the controversial births of the first gene-edited babies, a major focus of the Third International Summit on Human Genome Editing was responsible use of CRISPR.
Many researchers are interested in the genetic history of the Khoe-San.
Dana Al-Hindi
The South African Khoe-San communities are no strangers to exploitative research. One research team is trying to provide genetic ancestry results to community members. But they still face many challenges.
Studying ancient DNA in Africa is valuable for understanding human evolution, population migrations, and human history locally, regionally and globally.
No-one wants our children to be used as research guinea pigs. High standards of ethical oversight are needed to ensure no child is exposed to possible harm.
Nazi leadership saw medical and pharmaceutical research as a front-line tool to contribute to the war effort.
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Four months ago a researcher claimed he had used the tool CRISPR to edit the genomes of twin girls. Now prominent researchers and ethicists are calling for a temporary halt to this sort of work.
It’s not always clear where human organs come from in research papers.
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International standards ban publication of research that involves any biological material from executed prisoners, that lacks human research ethics committee approval and that lacks consent of donors.
What does oversight really ensure?
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Questions abound about whether the scientist who created the first gene edited human beings took shortcuts in the ethical oversight process. But pedantically focusing on protocol misses the point.
Next-generation genomic research depends on study participants sharing their biological materials with scientists. But concerns over how that information is protected may hold some people back.
The concept of benefit sharing ensures that all who take part in research have sone form of gain from it.
Safia Mahomed, University of the Witwatersrand y Ian Sanne, University of the Witwatersrand
Research should not only benefit the researchers. People who participate in research should also be compensated for the contributions.
In the 1940s and 50s, hundreds of Guatemalan men, women and children were deliberately infected with syphilis and gonorrhoea.
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On Human Experiments - Should there be compensatio when evidence of unethical research is uncovered long after the event?
The Nazis subjected Jews, political prisoners and other ‘undesirables’ to a range of experiments that resulted in death and disability.
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The horror of the human experiments by Nazi doctors led to the Nuremberg Code but the international declaration it inspired was watered down for political purposes.
On Human Experiments: what lies behind some of the most shocking human experiments in recent history? Here’s a clue: most of it took place during wartime or when war seemed like a real threat.
Associate Professor and Director of the Clinical HIV Research Unit at the Department of Medicine in the Faculty of Health Science, University of the Witwatersrand