Longitudinal tracking of human plasma oxytocin suggests complex responses to moral elevation.

Positive social experiences may induce oxytocin release. However, previous studies of moral elevation have generally utilized cross-sectional and simple modeling approaches to establish the relationship between oxytocin and emotional stimuli. Utilizing a cohort of 30 non-lactating women (aged 23.

Building Capacity for a Global Genome Editing Observatory: Institutional Design.

A new infrastructure is urgently needed at the global level to facilitate exchange on key issues concerning genome editing. We advocate the establishment of a global observatory to serve as a center for international, interdisciplinary, and cosmopolitan reflection. This article is the second of a two-part series.

Building Capacity for a Global Genome Editing Observatory: Conceptual Challenges.

A new infrastructure is urgently needed at the global level to facilitate exchange on key issues concerning genome editing. We advocate the establishment of a global observatory to serve as a center for international, interdisciplinary, and cosmopolitan reflection. This article is the first of a two-part series.

CDX2 in the formation of the trophectoderm lineage in primate embryos.

The first lineage decision during mammalian development is the establishment of the trophectoderm (TE) and the inner cell mass (ICM). The caudal-type homeodomain protein Cdx2 is implicated in the formation and maintenance of the TE in the mouse. However, the role of CDX2 during early embryonic development in primates is unknown.

Ethics and embryonic stem cell research: altered nuclear transfer as a way forward.

Ethical controversy in stem cell research arises because current methods to produce embryonic stem cell lines require the destruction of living human embryos. For this reason, there is increasing interest in developing alternative, non-embryonic sources of pluripotent stem cells. This effort is especially important in the US due to the prevailing policy against federal funding of embryo-destructive research.

Altered nuclear transfer: a way forward for embryonic stem cell research.

The present conflict over the moral status of the human embryo reflects deep differences in our basic convictions and is unlikely to be resolved through deliberation or debate. While there are currently no federally legislated constraints on the use of private funds for this research, there is a consensus opinion in the scientific community that without NIH support for newly created embryonic stem cell lines, progress in this important realm of research will be severely constrained. A May, 2005, report by the President's Council on Bioethics, "Alternative Sources of Pluripotent Stem Cells," outlines several proposals for obtaining pluripotent stem cells without the destruction of human embryos.

Framing the future: embryonic stem cells, ethics and the emerging era of developmental biology.

Throughout the 20(th) century, advances in biology were accomplished largely through the study of biochemical parts apart from their place within the whole organism. This reductive and analytic approach, which has culminated in the sequencing of the human genome, has now led us back to the study of living beings. When applied to human biology, this inquiry re-opens the most fundamental questions concerning the moral meaning of developing life.

Patenting humans: clones, chimeras, and biological artifacts.

The momentum of advances in biology is evident in the history of patents on life forms. As we proceed forward with greater understanding and technological control of developmental biology there will be many new and challenging dilemmas related to patenting of human parts and partial trajectories of human development. These dilemmas are already evident in the current conflict over the moral status of the early human embryo.