Genome editing: Bioethics shows the way

Genome editing: Bioethics shows the way

When some scientists hear the word "bioethics," they break out in intellectual hives. They shouldn't. Good bioethics is about enabling science to move forward. Bioethics pushes scientists to acknowledge that they operate not within a vacuum but within a society in which diverse perspectives and values must be engaged. Bioethicists give voice to those divergent perspectives and provide a framewo...

Metastasis: imaging shows the way

Metastasis, the life threatening aspect of cancer, is a systemic disease process. Considerable progress has been made in recent years regarding how tumor cells circulating in the blood and lymphatic systems interact with and extravasate into secondary sites, and what determines whether these disseminated tumors cells survive, remain dormant or go on to form macrometastases. New insights into th...

This response was submitted to the consultation held by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics on Genome Editing November 2015 to January 2016. Nuffield Council on Bioethics Consultation on Genome Editing

The domestication of crops began over ten thousand years ago. This domestication fixed traits, particularly those related to high yield, but also reduced genetic diversity in breeding populations. Compared to wild species, the breeding populations of many crop plants are less diverse [1]. We therefore need to employ technologies to increase genetic variation in crops in order to identify and fi...

Genome Editing



Archaea Signal Recognition Particle Shows the Way

Archaea SRP is composed of an SRP RNA molecule and two bound proteins named SRP19 and SRP54. Regulated by the binding and hydrolysis of guanosine triphosphates, the RNA-bound SRP54 protein transiently associates not only with the hydrophobic signal sequence as it emerges from the ribosomal exit tunnel, but also interacts with the membrane-associated SRP receptor (FtsY). Comparative analyses of ...