[Newswise] UCLA researchers have found that embryonic stem cells and skin cells reprogrammed into embryonic-like cells have inherent molecular differences, demonstrating for the first time that the two cell types are clearly distinguishable from one another.

The data from the study suggest that embryonic stem cells and the reprogrammed cells, known as induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, have overlapping but still distinct gene expression signatures. The differing signatures were evident regardless of where the cell lines were generated, the methods by which they were derived or the species from which they were isolated, said Bill Lowry, a researcher with the Broad Stem Cell Research Center and a study author.

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“We’re not mad Frankensteins working away in our laboratories to create designer babies”

[BBC] A gene mapping test that can test embryos for almost any inherited disease could be available in the UK within a year, say researchers.

Unlike current tests doctors do not need to know the specific gene mutation involved.

At the same time embryos can be tested to check they are generally in good genetic shape.

Experts say there will have to be strict limits on what the test can be used for.

The test - which will cost around £2,500 - uses a technique called karyomapping which looks for the inheritance of sections of DNA or chromosomes.

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[US News] As the White House readies its plan for finding “common ground” on reproductive health issues and reducing the need for abortion, a major debate has emerged over how to package the plan’s two major components: preventing unwanted pregnanciesand reducing the need for abortion.

Many abortion rights advocates and some Democrats who want to dial down the culture wars want the White House to package the two parts of the plan together, as a single piece of legislation. The plan would seek to reduce unwanted pregnancies by funding comprehensive sex education and contraception and to reduce the need for abortion by bolstering federal support for pregnant women. Supporters of the approach say it would force senators and members of Congress on both sides of the abortion battle to compromise their traditional positions, creating true common ground that mirrors what President Obama has called for.

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[NYT] JUNE 30, 2009 - Need a kidney? You may be able to buy one in Pakistan, which has become one of the world’s largest “kidney bazaars,” according to an article published in the May-June issue of The Hastings Center Report, a bioethics journal.

But who sells their kidneys, and what becomes of these people afterwards? The article, by two doctors and a psychologist from Karachi, paints an ugly picture of the kidney business and challenges the argument made by some that selling organs is a great financial boon to the poor and that they are grateful for the chance to do it.

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“Snowflake” babies, embryo “adoption,” and being pre-born again

[The Village Voice] JUNE 16, 2009 - In November, Lauren, a pretty 36-year-old physician’s assistant with a passing resemblance to Frances McDormand, traveled from her home in New York’sHudson Valley to a Knoxville, Tennessee, fertility clinic to claim three embryos left over from another couple’s in vitro fertilization cycle.

Lauren and her husband can’t conceive on their own. Three years earlier, they had adopted a little girl, and now, in a final bid to experience pregnancy, Lauren headed to the clinic, where the frozen embryos were thawed and transferred to her uterus.

Doctors call the procedure “embryo donation.”

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