DARPA, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, has awarded $6 million to a team of researchers to develop nanotechnology therapies for the treatment of traumatic brain injury and associated infections. (Nanowerk)

UCLA researchers at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research have used induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) to advance disease-in-a-dish modeling of a rare genetic disorder, ataxia telangiectasia. Their discovery shows positive effects of drugs that may lead to effective new treatments for the neurodegenerative disease. iPSC are made from patient skin cells rather than from embryos and can become any type of cells in the laboratory. (Medical Xpress)

For years, scientists have hoped that biology would find its engineering counterpart – a series of principles that could be used as reliably as chemical engineering is for chemistry. Thanks to major advances in synthetic biology, those hopes may soon be realized. (American Chemical Society)

Families with exceptional longevity appear to have delayed onset of Alzheimer’s disease, U.S. researchers say. (UPI)

Expanding Medicaid to a randomly selected low-income population in one state improved people’s mental health and financial situations but had less of an impact on physical health outcomes, a study revealed. (American Medical News)

This is the hormone that causes the uterus to contract during labor, and to contract after delivery, preventing postpartum hemorrhage. When Pitocin is used prior to delivery, it is used either to induce labor, or to augment (or strengthen) labor that has slowed down or stalled completely. (ABC News)

If you ask a hospital in your neighborhood to give you a package price on a standard surgical procedure, you will probably be turned down. After the suppression of normal market forces for the better part of a century, hospitals are rarely interested in competing on price for patients they are likely to get as customers anyway. (Psychology Today)

In 2013, neither Barry Bonds nor Roger Clemens made the Baseball Hall of Fame, even with their clearly superior records, because they used steroids. This was despite the fact that, as a New York Times editorial put it, the Hall of Fame is hardly a Hall of Virtue, filled as it is with “lowlifes, boozers and bigots.” Steroid use is apparently a different level of sin: It is cheating. (Slate)

The 12-year veteran will also “receive autologous stem cell injections” next week to help stimulate the regeneration of tissue in his knees. (L.A. Times)

The latest round of ethical contretemps is an intriguing April article in The New England Journal of Medicine, “Made-to-Order Embryos for Sale—A Brave New World?” which discusses—comprehensively and dispassionately—many of the concerns raised about embryo donations, whether gifted or for sale. (Forbes)

Researchers from Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah have discovered that while the genes provided by the father arrive at fertilization pre-programmed to the state needed by the embryo, the genes provided by the mother are in a different state and must be reprogrammed to match. (E! Science News)

McGill University post-doctoral fellow Spencer Phillips Hey and Prof. Jonathan Kimmelman, Biomedical Ethics, Social Studies of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine argue that some clinical trials of new drugs need to fail in order to protect study volunteers and healthcare systems. Their work is published this week in the journal Science Translational Medicine. (Medical Xpress)

A team of Harvard Stem Cell Institute scientists have discovered a protein that circulates in blood that can turn old hearts young, causing a mouse’s heart that has thickened and enlarged with age to revert back to a more youthful state. (Boston.com)

The St. Francis International Center for Healthcare Ethics
Caring for Our Kupuna: Balancing Human Dignity and Economics
10th Biennial International Bioethics Conference
Friday, August 9, 2013
8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Sheraton Waikiki Hotel
Honolulu, Hawaii

Registration: StFrancisHawaii.org

Among women who undergo in vitro fertilization (IVF) to become pregnant, there is no difference in delivery rates among those implanted with one prescreened embryo compared to those implanted with two unscreened embryos, new study findings reveal. (U.S. News and World Report)

In an article appearing in the May 8 edition of Science Translational Medicine, Spencer Phillips Hey, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in the Biomedical Ethics Unit at McGill University, and Jonathan Kimmelman, Ph.D., of the Studies for Translation, Ethics, and Medicine Group (STREAM), Biomedical Ethics Unit, McGill University point out the potential ethical and social trade-offs resulting from clinical trial reforms aimed at boosting Phase II positive predictivity. (Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News)

A new, free iPad application developed at UCLA helps women navigate through the sometimes confusing process of selecting a birth control method without sacrificing quality of information. The app is appealing to look at, easy to use, and highlights the most effective types of birth control, while also revealing any potential side effects, risks and warning signs. (Medical Xpress)

If we really want to combat teen childbearing, we need to present girls at risk of becoming pregnant with an attractive alternative. It is not enough to offer them contraception and to explain to how to use it. We need to convince them that they want to use it; that they and their children will be better off if they wait to become mothers. (The Atlantic)

UCLA researchers led by Drs. Peiyee Lee and Richard Gatti at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research have used induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) to advance disease-in-a-dish modeling of a rare genetic disorder, Ataxia Telangiectasia (A-T). Their discovery shows the positive effects of drugs that may lead to effective new treatments for the neurodegenerative disease. (News-Medical)

When the doctor showed up at his hospital bed and told Kyle Wilkerson that she had good news, that she had a heart for the Maryland teenager, Kyle had a suspicion. Mom Denise Wilkerson says her 15-year-old son looked up at the cardiologist and asked, “Is it Skylar’s heart?” (ABC News)