Pennsylvania researchers using gene therapy have made significant improvements in vision in 12 patients with a rare inherited visual defect, a finding that suggests it may be possible to produce similar improvements in a much larger number of patients with retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration.
Scientists are to investigate whether human-engineered nanoparticles which are found in sunscreen have any links with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
just out
Human Enhancement Study for Directorate General for internal policies, Policy Dept. A: Economic and Scientific Policy Science and Technology Options Assessments
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/stoa/publications/studies/stoa2007-13_en.pdf
Institute for Biomedical Ethics, Geneva University Medical School
Philosophy
PhD position in Bioethics
Within the
project ENABLE – Protecting
Vulnerable Persons in Health Care (supervisor: Samia Hurst), the Institute for Biomedical Ethics at the
University of Geneva Medical School is opening one
PhD position for a philosophy doctoral candidate. This project is
funded by
the Swiss National Science Foundation.
In
collaboration with the project
supervisor and within an interdisciplinary team, the successful
candidate’s
work will explore how vulnerability in health care can be defined
analytically,
as well as sources of claims for protection of the vulnerable, how
convincing
they are, and what effect their validity may have on fairness in
resource
allocation decisions. Projected duration for this position is four
years.
Salary is according to the University of Geneva scale (A2
assistant, 70%, approx. 46’000 CHF per annum the first year). Within
this time
frame, the successful candidate will be expected to complete a PhD
thesis in
philosophy under the (co-)supervision of Bernard Baertschi,
on a
topic broadly within the area of normative ethics and/or applied
ethics.
The ideal
candidate should have a
Master’s degree in philosophy or equivalent, including courses in
bioethics,
normative ethics, applied ethics, and/or political philosophy, and at
least
intermediate mastery of written English.
Please send
your CV, a writing
sample, and letter of motivation to: Samia.hurst@unige.ch
Before: August
15th 2009
Any relevant
publications (max. two)
should be attached to the application and will be considered an asset.
Interviews
will be held in
September.
– Dr Samia Hurst Institut d’éthique biomédicale CMU/1 rue Michel Servet 1211 Genève 4 – Switzerland Tel: +4122-3793479 Fax: +4122-3793472 Blog: http://forumethix-ch.blogspot.com/ Homepage: http://ib.unige.ch/SH_homepage.php SGBE-SSEB: http://www.bioethics.ch/content/default.htm
Skin from a factory – this has long been the dream of pharmacologists, chemists and doctors. Research has an urgent need for large quantities of ’skin models’, which can be used to determine if products such as creams and soaps, cleaning agents, medicines and adhesive bandages are compatible with skin, or if they instead will lead to irritation or allergic reactions for the consumer. Such test results are seen as more meaningful than those from animal experiments, and can even make such experiments largely superfluous.
Toxicological Sciences 2009 109(1):113-123; doi:10.1093/toxsci/kfp057
Unni C. Nygaard*,1, Jitka S. Hansen*,, Mari Samuelsen*, Torunn Alberg*, Calin D. Marioara and Martinus Løvik*, * Division of Environmental Medicine, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, NO-0403 Oslo, Norway National Research Centre for the Workinga Environment, DK-2100, Copenhagen, Denmark SINTEF Materials and Chemistry, NO-7465, Trondheim, Norway Department of Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NO-7489, Trondheim, Norway 1 To whom correspondence should be addressed at Division of Environmental Medicine, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, PO Box
4404 Nydalen, Lovisenbergata 8, NO-0403 Oslo, Norway. Fax: +47 2107 6686. E-mail:unni.cecilie.nygaard@fhi.no.
Received December 22, 2008; accepted March 4, 2009
This week, engineer Adam Wilson made global headlines by updating Twitter using his brainwaves. “USING EEG TO SEND TWEET” he explained.
more here
5-hydroxymethylcytosine a new serious epigenetic player
more here
Computer engineers at Washington University in St. Louis are bringing the
minimalist approach to medical care and computing by coupling USB-based
ultrasound probe technology with a smartphone, enabling a compact, mobile
computational platform and a medical imaging device that fits in the palm of a hand.
more here
Ars checks in from GDC09, where Emotiv Systems is showing off its new headset
that control games with both your thoughts and your facial expressions. The
surprising thing? It works. Our hands-on time with the $300 product that
knows what you’re thinking.
Stem cells that could be used to restore hearing have been
successfully created, scientists have said.
A Sheffield University team took stem cells from embryos and converted
them into cells that behave like sensory hair cells in the human inner
ear.
Their discovery could ultimately help those who have lost hair cells
through noise damage and some people born with inherited hearing
problems.
see here
Another issue for debate
Rhitu Chatterjee
Environ. Sci. Technol., Article ASAP
DOI: 10.1021/es900041e
Publication Date (Web): January 21, 2009
Copyright © 2009 American Chemical Society
On September 24, 2008, the U.S. insurance company Continental Western Group (CWG) issued a statement noting that it would exclude nanotubes and nanotechnology from its coverage. http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/es900041e?cookieSet=1
March 4th more here
March 5 more here
PhD Thesis Regulation and Risk Assessment of Nanomaterials — Too Little, Too Late?” by Steffen Foss Hansen, Ph.D. candidate at the Technical University of Denmark’s Department of Environmental Engineering
more here
The provisions for nanomaterials in the recast of the EU Cosmetics Directive have come in for criticism from campaigners.
more here
New in the Int J of Disability, Community and Rehabilitation (IJDCR)
An IJDCR Special Issue on Nanotechnology, Disability, Community and Rehabilitation edited by Gregor Wolbring,
Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies Program, Dept of Community
Health Sciences, University of Calgary, Canada
Articles:
Editor’s Introduction to the Special Issue, by Gregor Wolbring
If Nanotechnology Were a Magic Wand What Obligations Would it Bring? Or:
The Right to Enhance Versus the Right to Morphological Freedom, by Heather
Bradshaw
Optimization of Human Capacities and the Representation of the Nanoscale
Body, by Michele Robitaille
Nanotechnology: Changing the Disability Paradigm, by Laura Cabrera
The journal welcomes submissions on a continuous basis that focus on nanoscale and nanoscale-enabled science and technology as it impacts on disabled people and the broader community and the role of rehabilitation professionals, family members and others.
Canadian Standards Association would like to inform you that we are establishing a new Nanotechnology in Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Technical Committee for the adoption/adaptation of international ISO/IEC nanotechnology standards into National Standards of Canada. We have attached the Call for Participants which will provide you with information about this project. If you or a member of your organization is interested in applying to be a member of this new Technical Committee, please submit your application to the Project Manager Ron Meyers at: ron.meyers@csa.ca.
Please feel free to pass this message along to your colleagues who may be interested in this standards activity. The deadline for submitting applications is March 31st, 2009. Please contact me if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Davorah Katz
Project Assistant
Occupational Health and Safety/Mechanical Industrial Equipment Safety
Canadian Standards Association
5060 Spectrum Way, Suite 100
Mississauga, ON L4W 5N6
Email: Davorah.Katz@csa.ca
Scientists have stopped the ageing process in an entire organ for the first time, a study released today says.
Published in today’s online edition of Nature Medicine, researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University in New York City also say the older organs function as well as they did when the host animal was younger.
New Column out by me
see here
all with video
see here
Thanks to Mindhack
Learn about the frontiers of human health from seven of Stanford’s most innovative faculty members. Inspired by a format used at the TED Conference (http://www.ted.com), each speaker delivers a highly engaging talk in just 10-20 minutes about his or her research. Learn about Stanford’s newest and most exciting discoveries in neuroscience, bioengineering, brain imaging, psychology, and more.
….new kind of artificial arm that moves more easily than other devices and that she can control by using only her thoughts.
more here
Jan. 17, 2008
By Hannah Hickey
Contact lenses with metal connectors for electronic circuits were safely worn by rabbits in lab tests. The lenses were manufactured at the microscopic level by researchers at the UW. Contact lenses with metal connectors for electronic circuits were safely worn by rabbits in lab tests. Movie characters from the Terminator to the Bionic Woman use bionic eyes to zoom in on far-off scenes, have useful facts pop into their field of view, or create virtual crosshairs. Off the screen, virtual displays have been proposed for more practical purposes — visual aids to help vision-impaired people, holographic driving control panels and even as a way to surf the Web on the go.
more here
Researchers study the feasibility of brains made from carbon nanotubes
more here
UBC Reports | Vol. 55 | No. 1 | Jan. 8, 2009
Directing Objects With Your Mind
see here
On September 24, 2008, the U.S. insurance company Continental Western Group (CWG) issued a statement noting that it would exclude nanotubes and nanotechnology from its coverage.
more here
Consumer labeling not required for foods from these animals, agency says
Posted January 15, 2009
By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, Jan. 15 (HealthDay News) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday issued its final regulations governing the approval of genetically engineered animals.
(Washington, DC, January 15, 2009) – Today, the House Science and
Technology Committee introduced H.R. 554, National Nanotechnology
Initiative Amendments Act of 2009
. Identical to H.R. 5940
, which passed
the 110th Congress
by 407 to
6, H.R. 554 will strengthen and provide transparency to the federal
research effort to understand the potential environmental, health, and
safety risks of nanotechnology. It requires the agencies participating
in the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) to develop a plan for
the environmental and safety research, and a roadmap for implementing
it, which includes explicit near-term and long-term goals and the
funding required, by goal and by agency. The bill also seeks to leverage
private sector investments in nanotechnology and facilitate technology
transfer by strengthening public/private partnerships.
“The range of potential applications of nanotechnology is broad-from
solar cells to sunscreen, from electronics to energy transformation and
storage, to medicine and health,” stated Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN).
“It is important that potential downsides of the technology be addressed
from the beginning in a straightforward and open way, both to protect
the public health and to allay any concerns about the validity of the
results. A thorough, transparent process that ensures the safety of new
products will allow both the business community and the public to
benefit from the development of these new technologies.”
The NNI is multi-agency federal research program established in 2003
though the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act of
2003 (P.L.
108-153). It addresses all aspects of nanotechnology, including
environmental, health and safety (EHS) research. A December 2008
National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report concluded that the NNI still
lacks an adequate strategic plan and planning process for EHS research.
Over the past several years the House Science and Technology Committee
has carried out numerous oversight activities to encourage the
development and implementation of such a plan, with limited success.
H.R. 554 addresses the key recommendations in the NAS report. In
addition, the legislation requires that responsibility for overseeing
the development and implementation of an EHS research plan be assigned
to a single senior official at the Office of Science and Technology
Policy.
The legislation originally developed from the recommendations from other
formal reviews of NNI by the National Academy of Sciences and the
advisory panel of NNI.
Please see the Committee’s website
for more information on the
Committee’s work on Nanotechnology in the 110th Congress, including
hearings
and markups
.
Bill Introduced to Ensure Safety of Nanotechnology, Transparency of
Research
(Washington, DC, January 15, 2009) – Today, the House Science and
Technology Committee introduced H.R. 554, National Nanotechnology
Initiative Amendments Act of 2009
. Identical to H.R. 5940
, which passed
the 110th Congress
by 407 to
6, H.R. 554 will strengthen and provide transparency to the federal
research effort to understand the potential environmental, health, and
safety risks of nanotechnology. It requires the agencies participating
in the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) to develop a plan for
the environmental and safety research, and a roadmap for implementing
it, which includes explicit near-term and long-term goals and the
funding required, by goal and by agency. The bill also seeks to leverage
private sector investments in nanotechnology and facilitate technology
transfer by strengthening public/private partnerships.
“The range of potential applications of nanotechnology is broad-from
solar cells to sunscreen, from electronics to energy transformation and
storage, to medicine and health,” stated Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN).
“It is important that potential downsides of the technology be addressed
from the beginning in a straightforward and open way, both to protect
the public health and to allay any concerns about the validity of the
results. A thorough, transparent process that ensures the safety of new
products will allow both the business community and the public to
benefit from the development of these new technologies.”
The NNI is multi-agency federal research program established in 2003
though the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act of
2003 (P.L.
108-153). It addresses all aspects of nanotechnology, including
environmental, health and safety (EHS) research. A December 2008
National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report concluded that the NNI still
lacks an adequate strategic plan and planning process for EHS research.
Over the past several years the House Science and Technology Committee
has carried out numerous oversight activities to encourage the
development and implementation of such a plan, with limited success.
H.R. 554 addresses the key recommendations in the NAS report. In
addition, the legislation requires that responsibility for overseeing
the development and implementation of an EHS research plan be assigned
to a single senior official at the Office of Science and Technology
Policy.
The legislation originally developed from the recommendations from other
formal reviews of NNI by the National Academy of Sciences and the
advisory panel of NNI.
Please see the Committee’s website
for more information on the
Committee’s work on Nanotechnology in the 110th Congress, including
hearings
and markups
.
http://science.house.gov/press/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=2338
