Entrepreneur Jason Kelly Loves GMOs

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He says it here. And here.

Kelly, co-founder and CEO of Ginkgo Bioworks, shows unwavering support for an arena that often garners negative attention.

What are GMOs again?

An organism can be programmed to do something it wouldn’t normally do. This can be peculiar – for example, a mouse that fluoresces flamingly in the dark. But more often, we do this for practicality. For non-browning apples. For tomatoes that seem to stay fresh indefinitely.

It involves “borrowing” a desired trait from one organism and introducing said trait into another via transfer of DNA. GMOs refer to the genetically modified organisms themselves (i.e. plants, animals, micro-organisms). They take on forms and functions that would not exist in nature otherwise.

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Medical Device Tax Delayed For Two More Years

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Major news for medical devices sold in America over the next two years: Excise tax will remain un-imposed. This refers to a 2.3% tax enacted in 2010 to offset Affordable Care Act costs. Delayed a first time in 2015, this second delay saves medical device companies an estimated $3.75 billion between now and January 1, 2020, fostering innovation and protecting consumers from increased insurance expenditures. Right on time, too, as taxes were to resume imminently. STAT correspondent Erin Mershon talks about this here.

Three-Photon Imaging of Atherosclerosis

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The inside of an aorta studded with atherosclerotic lesions (raw image provided by CDC/ Dr. Edwin P. Ewing, Jr. via PHIL)

The BMES blog posted recently about using multiphoton microscopy to study atherosclerosis, happening now at Cornell University. If you’re not familiar with atherosclerosis, you should be. It refers to the narrowing of arteries due to plaque buildup, and it will probably affect you or someone you love at some point.

This isn’t meant to frighten you; almost everyone over 60 has it to some extent, often without realizing. So when does atherosclerosis become critical?  Heart disease is the short answer, my friends, the leading cause of death across developing and developed countries alike. Heart disease is pretty damn scary.

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