We Should Resist Making “Synthetic Embryos” Too Realistic

We Should Resist Making “Synthetic Embryos” Too Realistic

A rendering of emerging medical technology.

(© chombosan / Fotolia)


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Insoo Hyun
Insoo Hyun (PhD) is Associate Professor of Bioethics and Philosophy at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio. He chaired the Subcommittee on Human Biological Materials Procurement for the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR). He also served as Co-Chairperson of the ISSCR Task Force on International Guidelines for the Clinical Translation of Stem Cells. Most recently, Dr. Hyun served as a member of the ISSCR Working Group that revised the ISSCR’s 2016 guidelines for basic and translational stem cell research. Dr. Hyun has authored over 50 scholarly articles in journals such as Science, Nature, Cell Stem Cell, and The Hastings Center Report. His book Bioethics and the Future of Stem Cell Research was published by Cambridge University Press in 2013.
A new oral vaccine could prevent urinary tract infections for years

Urinary tract infections account for more than 8 million trips to the doctor each year.

Getty Images

Few things are more painful than a urinary tract infection (UTI). Common in men and women, these infections account for more than 8 million trips to the doctor each year and can cause an array of uncomfortable symptoms, from a burning feeling during urination to fever, vomiting, and chills. For an unlucky few, UTIs can be chronic—meaning that, despite treatment, they just keep coming back.

But new research, presented at the European Association of Urology (EAU) Congress in Paris this week, brings some hope to people who suffer from UTIs.

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Sarah Watts

Sarah Watts is a health and science writer based in Chicago.

MILESTONE: Doctors have transplanted a pig organ into a human for the first time in history

A surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital prepares a pig organ for transplant.

Michelle Rose/Massachusetts General Hospital

Surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital made history last week when they successfully transplanted a pig kidney into a human patient for the first time ever.

The recipient was a 62-year-old man named Richard Slayman who had been living with end-stage kidney disease caused by diabetes. While Slayman had received a kidney transplant in 2018 from a human donor, his diabetes ultimately caused the kidney to fail less than five years after the transplant. Slayman had undergone dialysis ever since—a procedure that uses an artificial kidney to remove waste products from a person’s blood when the kidneys are unable to—but the dialysis frequently caused blood clots and other complications that landed him in the hospital multiple times.

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Sarah Watts

Sarah Watts is a health and science writer based in Chicago.