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Rebecca Skloot is an award-winning science writer, and a contributing editor at Popular Science magazine; she's worked as a correspondent for the NPR show RadioLab, and PBS Nova ScienceNOW. Her writing appears in The New York Times Magazine, O: The Oprah Magazine, Discover and others. She teaches in the University of Memphis's creative writing program. Her first book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, is forthcoming from Crown on February 2, 2010. It tells the story of HeLa -- the first immortal human cell line ever grown in culture (pictured in the blog's banner) -- the woman those cells came from, and the family she left behind. Click Welcome to Culture Dish for an introduction to this blog and its author.
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Category: Bioethics
Calling all academics: If you'd like a free advanced copy of my book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, to consider it for course adoption, get thee to Random House's academic blog and request a copy quick, while supplies last (which probably won't be long at the rate things are going).
Posted by Rebecca Skloot at 9:15 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Bioethics
A federal district court has just agreed to hear the ACLU's case against the breast cancer gene patent. When the case was first filed, many legal experts were sure the case would be dismissed due to it's unusual approach: it claims that the practice of patenting genes is unconstitutional.
Posted by Rebecca Skloot at 6:23 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Bioethics
An adjunct instructor at the University of Akron quits when he's told he must submit to DNA testing; the government drafts new proposed legislation protecting the privacy of genetic information - it's open for public comment until the end of November.
Posted by Rebecca Skloot at 11:10 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Bioethics
Skloot will be speaking about her new book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (aka HeLa), at universities, scientific organizations, bookstores, book groups, high schools, and more as part of a grass-roots, 3-month book tour (starting 2/2/10). See her interactive tour map to help bring the story of HeLa and the ethics of tissue culture to your town.
Posted by Rebecca Skloot at 9:59 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Bioethics
In a starred pre-publication review, Publishers Weekly calls The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (about HeLa, by yours truly), "a remarkable debut ... a rich, resonant tale of modern science, the wonders it can perform and how easily it can exploit society's most vulnerable people." See post for full review, and the book's shiny new cover!
Posted by Rebecca Skloot at 9:05 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Bioethics
Speaking of the debate over patents interfering with medical care: A promising new drug for treating Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS) is not available to patients due to a patent dispute.
Posted by Rebecca Skloot at 10:29 AM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Bioethics
The ACLU has launched a suit against the holder of the breast cancer gene patent with hopes of stopping the practice of gene patenting. Skloot covers the suit, its history, and its odds of success.
Posted by Rebecca Skloot at 4:29 PM • 32 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Animals
There are many well known ethical problems with companies selling clones of people's pets, now here's a new one: Surrogate mother abuse.
Posted by Rebecca Skloot at 2:03 AM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Bioethics
A new CDC study finds that IVF babies have increased risk of birth defects. This is nothing new. Skloot discusses the history, lack of safety trials and regulation, plus extreme treatments, including the growth of human embryos using monkey uterus and cloning-like technology
Posted by Rebecca Skloot at 8:36 AM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Bioethics
DNA from thousands of people being tested without their knowledge. Suspicious spouses are sneaking DNA samples from their partner's underwear; men and women are covertly testing their children to find out if they're really biologically related, and several companies have cropped up to help them.
Posted by Rebecca Skloot at 12:38 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
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