The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said this week that electronic health records must include options for collecting information about gender identity and sexual orientation. Harvey Makadon (Beth Israel) is quoted.
Scientists say they have extracted ancient DNA from the skull of a man buried in the highlands of Ethiopia 4,500 years ago that supports the theory that Eurasian farmers migrated into Africa some 3,000 years ago. David Reich (HMS) is quoted.
Harvard University has launched a new startup, intent on using an external device to clean the blood of patients with sepsis. Don Ingber (Wyss Institute/Boston Children’s) is quoted. Michael Super (Wyss Institute) is mentioned.
Sushrut Jangi (Beth Israel Deaconess) authored this perspective on potential medical dangers of marijuana. Sharon Levy (Boston Children’s), Jodi Gilman (Mass General) and Jonathan Long (Dana-Farber) are quoted.
A new study shows that elephants harbor dozens of extra copies of one of the most powerful cancer-preventing genes. These bonus genes might enable them to weed out potentially cancerous cells before they can grow into tumors. Vadim Gladyshev (Brigham and Women’s) is quoted.
U.S. health care is in a revolution that is starting to shake up one of the most conservative parts of medicine: its antiquated model for training doctors. Neel T. Shah (Beth Israel Deaconess) is quoted.
Scientists know how to turn on these fat-combusting cells. Can these energy burners be used to combat obesity? Bruce Spiegelman (Dana-Farber) is quoted.
At the American Society for Human Genetics annual meeting on Wednesday, scientists from the Broad Institute and Harvard Medical School convened the conference’s first panel on gynecologic genetics and genomics. Stacey Missmer (Brigham and Women’s) and Cynthia Morton (Brigham and Women’s) are quoted.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will not approve a drug if there is more than a 2.5 percent chance that it doesn’t work—no matter the disease or how poor the prognosis. And in a recently published paper, Massachusetts Institute of Technology finance professor Andrew Lo took the FDA to task for not being more flexible. Jagpreet Chhatwal (Mass General) is quoted.
Geneticist George Church (HMS) has co-founded a company that is developing genetically modified pigs to grow organs for human transplant. George Daley (Boston Children’s) is quoted.
