Genetic Alliance's 25th Year

Genetic Alliance is a nonprofit health advocacy organization that improves health through the authentic engagement of communities and individuals. This year, they are celebrating their 25th anniversary as a journey toward novel partnerships, connected consumers, and smart services. They are hosting a variety of events throughout the year, including monthly salons around the country and the 25th Anniversary Annual Conference in June. If you cannot attend an event in person, you can still learn all about genetics, health, and advocacy with their webinar series. In addition, they are honoring innovators in the genetics community and post new videos weekly. Find out how to get involved: http://www.geneticalliance.org/25anniversary.

Legal ruling blocks NIH funding of hESC research

What are your thoughts?

A US court has issued a temporary block against federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research as permitted by the Obama administration last year. The judge agreed with plaintiffs in a lawsuit contending that such research is illegal because it destroys embryos. In the court opinion, Judge Lamberth noted that he believed the case was likely to succeed. “ESC research is clearly research in which an embryo is destroyed. To conduct ESC research, ESCs must be derived from an embryo. The process of deriving ESCs from an embryo results in the destruction of the embryo. Thus, ESC research necessarily depends upon the destruction of a human embryo.”


Court Opinion: https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2009cv1575-44

Current NIH Position: http://stemcells.nih.gov/index.asp

Internship Opportunities!

From Genetic Alliance:

Good Afternoon Everyone!

I¹m writing to let you all know about the exciting internship opportunities
that we have here at Genetic Alliance! All interns make meaningful
contributions to Genetic Alliance projects and programs while providing an
invaluable level of program and administrative support for the organization.

Our Public Health Genomics Internship may be of special interest to members
of the Genomics Forum:

Public Health Genomics Intern
Help us transform the emerging field of public health genomics. Genetic
Alliance has strong ties with the American Public Health Association¹s
Genomics Forum and is engaged in a number of projects that will inform the
future of public health for rare and common conditions. This position will
reach out to other fields in public health, conduct research, and craft
white papers on future directions for early disease detection and
intervention. Join us in translating decades of research into the systems
and services that will help keep individuals, families, and communities
healthy. Genetic Alliance gives preference to applicants who are currently
pursuing or who have obtained a public health degree or can demonstrate
previous experience in the public health field, but all are welcome to
apply.

Please visit our website to find out more about the program and the other
types of internships that are available:
http://www.geneticalliance.org/internships

We look forward to receiving your application!

Vatican Enters Partnership to Advance Adult Stem Cell Research

This is the first time in history the Vatican is entering into a publicly-traded company to advance scientific research and promote adult stem cell research. They hope their efforts of donating 1 million dollars will advance the efforts of developing treatments for a variety of diseases.


To read the article: Vatican Enters Partnership to Advance Adult Stem Cell Research