Best known globally for its aspirin and locally for its life-saving hemophilia treatments, drug giant Bayer is firming up plans to lead one of biotech's hottest areas with a pioneering new cell therapy manufacturing facility on its fast-changing Berkeley campus.
The moves come as Bayer seeks approval from Berkeley leaders for a new 30-year master plan that would allow the Germany-based company to build 1 million square feet of production, research and office space and add some 1,000 employees over that period.
At the forefront of Bayer's big plans are cell therapies, which employ genetically engineered cells to fix blood cancers and potentially more diseases, and one-shot-and-done gene therapies that insert a correct copy of a gene to replace a defective, disease-causing gene.
Louise Perry’s recent article in The Spectator cautions against “The quiet return of eugenics,” a threat she locates in preimplantation genetic testing for polygenic disorders. The technology is billed as a way for parents undergoing IVF to select which embryo to implant based on information about each embryo’s genetic risk factors and traits. These reports, she says, give parents “a very full picture of the adult that embryo could become”––from their child’s risk of developing different diseases to their “likely...
Prophets of techno-paradise tend to bloom and then fade but not necessarily disappear. Malcolm and Simone Collins, a husband and wife team, have been on quite a roll for a couple of years. However, their time in the spotlight may at last be coming to a close, after a report revealed their parenting style.
The Collins family have already featured on this...
GATTACA was released in 1997, but — remarkably — is even more relevant now than it was then, as the technologies whose social implications it explores have developed considerably.
On Thursday, June 13, the California Film Institute presented GATTACA to a sold-out house at the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center as part of their Science on Screen series. CGS Associate Director Katie Hasson offered framing for the film and participated in a Q+A discussion.
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