Research Library

This journal article explores why the public and stakeholders should help develop guidelines and policies governing scientific practices for controversial biomedical research issues, such as genetically editing human embryos.

In this report, the authors outline the U.S. federal budget process for scientific R&D, discuss trends in federal R&D funding and provide an outlook for federal scientific R&D funding during the Biden administration.

The unproven stem cell intervention industry is a worldwide, direct-to-consumer market where clinics offer stem cells or stem cell-derived components to patients with little to no scientific or clinical basis. In this paper, the authors call for the establishment of a World Health Organization Expert Advisory Committee on Regenerative Medicine to tackle this issue and provide guidance. Stem Cell Reports: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stemcr.2021.05.004

Health policy experts Kirstin Matthews and Rekha Lakshmanan compare the three COVID-19 vaccines now available from Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson and, in a separate infographic, provide an overview of Operation Warp Speed.

It now seems technically feasible to culture human embryos beyond the “fourteen‐day limit,” which has the potential to increase scientific understanding of human development and perhaps improve infertility treatments. Robust stakeholder engagement preceded adoption of the fourteen‐day limit and should arguably be part of efforts to reassess it, write the authors.

Over the past decade, anti-vaccine rhetoric and activity have increased in the United States, resulting in decreased vaccination rates and more frequent outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. In this study, researchers use Texas as a case study to determine if vaccine-related legislation became a partisan issue between 2009 and 2019.

To understand the variations and impact of national policies, the authors reviewed and analyzed IVF, hESC and human embryo research laws or national guidelines currently in place in the top R&D-investing nations. Regenerative Medicine, Aug. 17, 2020.

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This study highlights areas where efforts could be made to address policy issues, institutional barriers and national biases to promote more productive collaboration in the global scientific community.