4 replies to this topic

[Bruce Klein]

[Originally Posted By John at bjklein.com]

Dr. west is doing groundbreaking work on cloning at ACT, in worchester, Mass. Earlier, as cofounder of Geron on the west coast, he led work on telomerase, which has ...when gene-spliced into two cell lines...turned mortal human cell lines into immortal ones. the cells are skin and retinal cells. Alas, nowadays, with west gone, for some reason the Geron site is a shambles. anyone know the inside story on why?
Regards,
John newtol

[Bruce Klein]

President & Chief Executive Officer - Dr. West received a B.S. degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1976, his M.S. in Biology from Andrews University in 1982, and his Ph.D. from Baylor College of Medicine in 1989. He has extensive academic and business experience in age-related degenerative disease, telomerase molecular biology, and human embryonic stem cells. From 1998-1999 he was a Co-founder and Chairman of Origen Therapeutics of South San Francisco, California, a company developing transgenic technology in commercial poultry. From 1990 to 1998 he was the founder, director and Vice President of Geron Corporation of Menlo Park, California, where he initiated and managed programs in telomerase diagnostics, telomerase inhibition, telomerase-mediated therapy, and human embryonic stem cells

[Bruce Klein]

Originally Posted By JayGuitar

I am moreso worried about what will happen to West if that damned Brownback bill passes the senate.

He mentioned in an article on lef.org that he can't see himself moving ACT to another country if the bill gets passed. It would be a crying shame if that happened.

And if it *does* happen, then I sincerely hope that he *will* move himself over to the UK or some other country in which therapeutic cloning is allowed, even though he says he doesn't want to.


I think the US isn't being very smart by even thinking about creating such a bill. The passing of it would prevent miraculous cures to take huge bites out of government-costs, and it will almost certainly cause quite a brain-drain in the US.

Instead of reversing the degenerative effects of diseases, the US is choosing to reverse progress, it seems.

The Singularity is gonna rule!

[Bruce Klein]

Update on the Cloning Bill


Human Cloning Ban Sidetracked
Senate Vote Deals Amendment Second Setback in a Week

By Helen Dewar
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 19, 2002; Page A04

Advocates of legislation to ban all forms of human cloning suffered their second setback in a week yesterday as the Senate blocked an effort to add an anti-cloning amendment to legislation dealing with insurance against terrorism.

Voting 65 to 31, the Senate barred consideration of amendments unrelated to the insurance measure, effectively shelving a proposal by Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) to add a provision barring issuance of patents for cloned human beings or the technology to produce them.

Full Article

[JayGuitar]

I am moreso worried about what will happen to West if that damned Brownback bill passes the senate.

He mentioned in an article on lef.org that he can't see himself moving ACT to another country if the bill gets passed. It would be a crying shame if that happened.

And if it *does* happen, then I sincerely hope that he *will* move himself over to the UK or some other country in which therapeutic cloning is allowed, even though he says he doesn't want to.


I think the US isn't being very smart by even thinking about creating such a bill. The passing of it would prevent miraculous cures to take huge bites out of government-costs, and it will almost certainly cause quite a brain-drain in the US.

Instead of reversing the degenerative effects of diseases, the US is choosing to reverse progress, it seems.


[edit]
By the way: can anybody tell me when we will hear from this nasty s.1899 Brownback bill again?

I don't really know anything about US politics. Is there a set timeframe within which all Senators must have a final decision?