""This decision is about advancing science by investing in breakthrough technologies more capable of modeling human health and disease," NIH director Jayanta Bhattacharya said in a statement (see go.nature.com/4by2ekk)."
""Research with human fetal tissue (HFT) and HFT-derived cell lines has been integral to biomedical progress for nearly a century" (see go.nature.com/4tes8mn)."
""This research has contributed to fundamental advances in understanding human development, infertility, infectious diseases, and chronic and neurodegenerative conditions.""
On 22 January, the US National Institutes of Health announced that it would stop funding most research involving human fetal tissue. NIH director Jayanta Bhattacharya framed the policy as prioritizing investment in breakthrough technologies such as computer modelling, organ-on-a-chip systems and complex 3D cell cultures called organoids. Developmental biologists and the International Society for Stem Cell Research contend that those technologies are not yet able to model human health and disease accurately. Human fetal tissue and HFT-derived cell lines have contributed to understanding human development, infertility, infectious diseases, and chronic and neurodegenerative conditions. The policy bars federal funding for studies using tissue from elective abortions while permitting tissue from miscarriages and stillbirths, a change that will hinder replacement-technology development and slow therapeutic discovery.
Read at Nature
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]