We often hear that life is too short. I would add: Too short for what? Clearly, it all depends on what you choose to do. If you are trying to unravel the secrets of the universe, then life is surely too short. Ars lunga vita brevis, said the Romans. On the other hand, if you […]
He Jiankui, the scientist who achieved notoriety with the gene-edited babies scandal, may be facing an unusually harsh punishment in China. Even the death penalty seems to be in the cards. The most troublesome aspect of his misadventure appears to be that which relates to corruption charges. He Jiankui allegedly misled the participants in the […]
By Ariel Fernandez As a former professor in the Bioengineering Department at Rice University I was a colleague of Michael W. Deem, the Ph. D. mentor of He Jiankui. During a recent interview by Science Transparency, I became acquainted with a defense of He Jiankui by Prof. George Church, a leading figure from Harvard and […]
The genetic editing of human embryos through a molecular biology manipulation known as CRISPR surely sent shock waves across the globe. Many felt that He Jiankui, the Chinese scientist who carried out the experiments had opened Pandora’s box. Yet, as people had now some time to ponder over the events, the scientific establishment has […]
The picture shows the cover page of a doctoral dissertation, with Professors Ariel Fernandez and Michael W. Deem in the bioengineering thesis committee at Rice University. There was no genetic editing of human embryos at the time, just theory, bioinformatics, computational bioengineering and speculation. Michael W. Deem was also the doctoral advisor of He […]
Robert Weinberg, Carlo Croce and Olivier Voinnet are extremely gifted scientists. They have spent long hours in the lab and their amazing drive and talent have turned them into towering figures in their respective fields. Their achievements are widely recognized and have earned them solid reputations in Cancer Genetics, Cancer Biology and Plant Biology, their […]
Linus Pauling, the most gifted physical chemist that ever lived, once said that the realization of the relevance of the hydrogen bond, a relatively weak molecular force, gave birth to Structural Biology. He also said that there was more to it, a sort of meta-analysis of structural biology that was still missing. This he conveyed to Oktay […]
We love science, we also know that getting and keeping our scientific work published in a good venue can be an arduous task. This is true now more than ever due to a lack of leadership in the scientific establishment and to the advent in 2010 of a new player in the game: the angry […]
Contributed by Dr. Ariel Fernandez Stigliano Virtually everybody recognizes that science is facing a reproducibility crisis. Whenever a result elicits attention, be it because it is published in a high-impact journal, or better still because it is important, there is a high likelihood that others will attempt to reproduce it. They often fail, disturbingly often. […]
Carlo M. Croce is a towering figure in cancer genetics. His discovery of the molecular mechanisms in leukemia and other malignancies places him in the league of pioneers in the field like Janet Rowley. Croce’s peers have recognized his contributions, elected him to the US National Academy of Science in 1996 and showered him with […]