SCBE In The News

July 2012:

Guardian (London), 07/02/12
--The IOC's superwoman complex: how flawed sex-testing discriminates
Katrina Karkazis, a senior research scholar at the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, and Rebecca Jordan-Young, a sociomedical scientist at Barnard College, co-author this perspective piece on the International Olympic Committee’s new sex-testing policy. An article in the Boston Globe on this subject also quotes Karkazis.

Los Angeles Times, 07/06/12
--Fetal genome blood test: Lots of issues, scientist say
Scientists can now sequence the entire genome of a fetus from samples of a pregnant woman’s blood, several recent studies have shown. This piece, which also appears in the Chicago Tribune, focuses on the implications of the technology. Hank Greely, with the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, is mentioned.

KCBS-AM, 07/24/12
This segment discussed the International Olympic Committee’s newly adopted gender-policing policies and how they could discriminate against women who may not meet traditional notions of femininity. Katrina Karkazis, senior research scholar at Stanford’s Center for Biomedical Ethics, was interviewed.

Short Sharp Science (NewScientist.com), 07/25/12
--Ruling frees FDA to crack down on stem cell clinics
The U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. has ruled that a person's own cultured stem cells are drugs subject to regulation by the Food and Drug Administration. Christopher Scott, senior research scholar at the Center for Biomedical Ethics and director of the Program on Stem Cells and Society, provides comment in this piece.

Booster Shots (LATimes.com), 07/25/12
--Fetal DNA tests: Will patents work against patients?
This article discusses how patenting and licensing for fetal DNA testing could have serious consequences for technology advances and benefits to public health. The issue was the subject of a paper co-authored by Mildred Cho, associate director of the SCBE, and Megan Allyse.

Huffington Post, 07/26/12
--Optogenetics: A novel technology with questions old and new
This piece focuses on some of the questions posed by optogenetics, a technique that combines genetic engineering of brain cells with fiber optics. Karl Deisseroth, associate professor of bioengineering and of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, pioneered the technology and is quoted here. Lauren Milner and Megan Allyse, postdoctoral scholars in the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics (SCBE), also provide comment.

BBC Radio, 07/31/12
This piece discussed the International Olympic Committee’s newly adopted gender-policing policies and how they could discriminate against women who may not meet traditional notions of femininity. Katrina Karkazis, senior research scholar at Stanford’s Center for Biomedical Ethics, was interviewed.