Blog

What ethical dilemma can arise when allocating scarce medical resources?

What is a potential ethical issue involving fetal tissue use in research?

Medical tourism can create ethical issues regarding the quality of care received by patients seeking cheaper treatments abroad.

Which ethical issue is associated with the Tuskegee Study?

Why vascularization of engineered tissue is critical for tissue engineering? Please briefly describe the different strategies available to facilitate vascularization of scaffold for tissue engineering? 

Researchers in a tissue engineering lab have developed a new strategy to reprogram adult cells and generate IPSCs using a novel viral vector that can efficiently deliver plasmid into the adult cells. In order to track in real time the reprogramming efficiency of their method they use a cell line engineered with a GFP-reporter on the Oct4 gene (GFP: Green fluorescent protein). In the figure presented below, the researchers induced the reprogramming process at day #7 and analyzed the reprogramming efficiency by comparing the total cell confluence (GFP-labelled and non-labelled cells) with the GFP expressing cells confluence (GFP-labelled cells). (In cell culture biology, confluence refers to the percentage of the surface of a culture dish that is covered by adherent cells. The more cells are growing the more confluent the culture is). Using your knowledge on the IPSCs reprogramming process and the results presented in the figure, please answer the following questions. a. What does the acronym IPSCs stand for? b. What type of cell are often use to generate IPSCs (be as specific as you can)? c. Provide two examples of Transcription factors that can be used to reprogram fibroblasts into IPSCs. d. What is Oct4 and why are the researchers monitoring Oct4 gene expression? Provide an example of other gene that the authors could have used or monitor in this study. e. Instead of viral delivery, what other method could be used to reprogram adult cells into IPSCs? f. Please describe the results in the figure below. g. Based on these results can we say that this new method is able to generate IPSCs? and if yes how would you determine the efficiency? Figure caption: Assessing Reprogramming Kinetics by Measuring OCT4-GFP Confluence. Real-time imaging of fibroblasts reprogrammed with a new viral vector. Phase contrast, green fluorescence and merged images of the same cell colonies were generated at Day 7 to 19. Scale bar corresponds to 400 μm. The graph represent the quantification of total cell confluence (phase contrast) and OCT4-GFP cell confluence (green channel).

Please organize the following cells based on their decreasing potency. (Rank #1 for the cell with the higher potency to rank #4 for the cell with the lower potency)

What condition is an inherited immunodeficiency disorder characterized by the absence of both humoral and cell-mediated immunity?

A child presents to the ER with his mother. She states that he has a runny nose (coryza), a cough, and it looks like he has pink eye. Due to recent outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases in the community, you know that this child is highly contagious. You immediately place the child in a negative pressure room on airborne precautions because you are suspicious that the child has what illness?

Case scenario: A nurse in the newborn nursery is completing discharge teaching for first-time parents of a healthy full-term infant born 24 hours ago. The infant’s assessment is normal, vital signs are stable, and the baby is feeding well. As the nurse prepares to administer the first dose of the hepatitis B vaccine, the parents express hesitation.The mother says, “We don’t want our baby getting chemicals like formaldehyde and thimerosal. We’ve read that vaccines can overload a newborn’s immune system. We’d rather wait until our baby is older.”The nurse recognizes the parents are anxious and want to make an informed decision. Which response by the nurse is most appropriate?