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Biochemistry

Virtual Celebrations for Graduates to be Held May 8 – UMass News and Media Relations

Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy invites the campus community to join in virtual celebrations of the UMass Class of 2020 on May 7 and 8. These online events do not replace the traditional campus ceremonies, which will be rescheduled for an appropriate date after restrictions on large gatherings are lifted.

For undergraduates, the 2020 Commencement Celebration is the culminating virtual event honoring the achievement of this years graduating class and will be available on Friday, May 8, at 4:30 p.m. EDT atwww.umass.edu/UMass2020. During the 15-minute streaming video celebration, Chancellor Subbaswamy will lead us through a tribute that honors the graduating class. Featured speakers include UMass President Marty Meehan; the 2020 student speaker, Grace Jung, a biochemistry and molecular biology major from Wakefield, Massachusetts; and the keynote speaker for our on-campus ceremony, UMass alumnus John Jacobs 90, co-founder and chief creative optimist of Life Is Good. Other plans include musical performances and some very special surprise guests you wont want to miss. The UMass 2020 website will go live on May 7.

For graduate students, on May 8 the Graduate School will share video messages from dean Barbara Krauthamer and Chancellor Subbaswamy, as well as from the Graduate Schools staff.The Graduate Schools Commencement 2020 program will be available online. Dean Krauthamer, Associate Dean Beth Jakob, Assistant Dean Funmi Ayobami and the leaders of the Office of Professional Development will host a live drop-in room for graduating students who wish to say hello.More information will be available on theGraduate Schools websiteon May 8.

The schools and colleges will also be sharing video tributes and celebrating graduates on their social media channels, starting with Commonwealth Honors College on May 7. Information will be available on school and college websites.

Graduates are encouraged to wear their caps and gowns or their favorite UMass gear and to post photos and videos using #UMassTogether and #UMass2020.

The University Store is also offering a special discount for the Class of 2020 atwww.umassstore.com.

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Virtual Celebrations for Graduates to be Held May 8 - UMass News and Media Relations

Biochemistry

Outsmarting cancer: Innovative treatments and diagnostics offer new hope – Stanford Medical Center Report

Researchers at Stanford Medicine are thinking up new ways to tackle one of the world's most daunting diseases: cancer.

My colleague Krista Conger and I tag-teamed an article in the new issue of Stanford Medicine magazine that features some of the latest and most innovative tactics Stanford researchers are pursuing to detect cancer earlier and stop the disease in its tracks.

More than a dozen scientists told us about the impressive research that's helping patients survive what was once a death sentence.

"In biomedicine, we're faced all the time with intractable problems, and cancer is one of these problems that is very difficult to solve," biochemistry professorSteven Artandi, MD, PhD, the Laurie Kraus Lacob Director of theStanford Cancer Institute, told us. "Often, these problems are solved by thinking about them in a completely different perspective, and that's the kind of attitude and approach that we foster at Stanford."

In this feature, we highlighted a handful of new diagnostics Stanford researchers are developing, such as smart toilets to detect signs of cancer from stool and urine. We also described several treatments that are in clinical trials or under development.

In the lab of of Garry Nolan, PhD, for instance, scientists are using a powerful and complex cell analysis technique called multiplexed ion beam imaging to detect and measure levels of certain molecules, including those that flag cancer. The research could reveal a new, deeper understanding of cancer at a molecular level.

Among the treatments featured in the article is one some people call a "cancer vaccine," a breakthrough from the lab of oncologist Ronald Levy, MD, who has dedicated his career to fighting blood cancers. Unlike a traditional vaccination, which prevents disease before it starts, this one bolsters the body's ability to battle disease that already has a foothold.

Levy injects tumors with an agent that boosts activity of immune cells called T cells, after the T cells have infiltrated the cancer and begun to fight it.

Levy and his colleagues have shown that their strategy could eliminate established human tumors in mice not only at the site of injection, but also at distant sites throughout the body.

Image by Keith Negley

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Outsmarting cancer: Innovative treatments and diagnostics offer new hope - Stanford Medical Center Report

Biochemistry

Four UTSW Researchers Named to The National Academy of Sciences – D Magazine

Four UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists have been elected to the The National Academy of Sciences, one of the top honors for American scientists.

Peer scientists selected Sean Morrison, Kim Orth, Michael Rosen, and Sandra Schmid for their original research and achievements. UT Southwestern now has 25 members of the academy, the most of any institution in Texas.

Election to the prestigious National Academy of Sciences recognizes the pioneering contributions these scientists have made to advance our understanding of basic cellular function and molecular processes with application to addressing a broad spectrum of unmet medical needs including cancer and treatments for bacterial infections, said Dr. Daniel K. Podolsky, President of UT Southwestern Medical Center via release. Their election enriches the National Academy of Sciences efforts to provide data and advice on the nations most critical issues in science, health, and medicine.

Morrison is the Director of the Childrens Medical Center Research Institute (CRI) at UT Southwestern and Professor of Pediatrics and has worked in the fields of stem cell biology and cancer, and has created new methods to purify stem cells and allow them to persist and regenerate after injury. This recognizes, first and foremost, the work of many talented people over the years in my lab, most of whom have now gone on to their own laboratories at UT Southwestern and other institutions. Many of the key insights for the important discoveries that were made came from them so this really recognizes their work. Id also like to acknowledge all my colleagues, all of you at UT Southwestern and at Childrens Health, for the incredible environment that you created for science, Morrison said via release.

Orth is a Professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry and has discovered biochemical mechanisms behind many bacterial infections, revealing how pathogens use host cells for their own benefit. I want to thank you all for this wonderful celebration, even though we have to Zoom . Thanks to this amazing institution, UT Southwestern, the wonderful administration including Drs. (Daniel) Podolsky and (David) Russell and the other administrators and staff. As (Chair of Molecular Biology) Eric Olson said, I have moved up the ranks here, starting as a technician, to a student, a postdoc, and now Professor, Orth said via release. And this path has driven my success. Another major key to my success is all of the talented people that have worked in my lab and my mentors, friends, collaborators, and, of course, my family.

Rosen is the Chair of Biophysics and Professor in the Cecil H. and Ida Green Comprehensive Center for Molecular, Computational, and Systems Biology, and investigates how cells compartmentalize processes without the use of membranes. When we began our work on phase separation about a decade ago, it really was not obvious at all whether this was going to be some weird, esoteric little thing that a few proteins did or (if) it was going to become a more general principle in biology. So it wasa tremendous risk that many of us took in making a move in this new direction. More than anything, I want to thank the various people whojoined me in taking this great risk a decade ago that I think has proved to be very much worthwhile, Rosen said via release.

Schmid is the Professor and Chair of Cell Biology and is recognized for her work on endocytosis, or how cells absorb nutrients and other molecules, including the major pathway for uptake within the cell. Ive been lucky to start and end my academic career at two unique institutions, Schmid said via release. As a PhD student in the early 80s, I was supported and challenged by my peers and faculty in the Biochemistry department at Stanford to ask important questions and do the most impactful research. Over decades, the leadership at UT Southwestern has inspired, supported and celebrated the very best research creating a collegial culture that breeds success.

This important recognition by their peers reflects the breadth and quality of research underway at UT Southwestern, and serves as inspiration for new generations of trainees and scientists to carry on the tradition of discovery that is the hallmark of distinguished academic medical centers, said Dr. W. P. Andrew Lee., Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Provost and Dean of UT Southwestern Medical School via release.

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Four UTSW Researchers Named to The National Academy of Sciences - D Magazine

Biochemistry

Know your target: Fundamental science will lead us to coronavirus vaccines – The Conversation CA

The current pandemic, and maybe even more importantly the next one, will be beaten in the laboratory by strong fundamental science that informs smart medical responses and public policy.

Globally, the research community is galvanized to fight this virus: researchers are developing ways to reuse personal protective equipment, devising better treatments for people who have been infected, creating vaccines and trying to understand what makes this virus so deadly.

Read more: What the coronavirus does to your body that makes it so deadly

One of the major issues in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic is that we simply dont understand why SARS-CoV-2 the coronavirus that causes the disease is so dangerous. We do know that its deadly nature is a function of small genetic changes, called mutations, which distinguish it from other viruses. But which mutations?

SARS-CoV-2 is a close relative of SARS-CoV, the virus that caused the 2003 SARS outbreak, but even between these closely related viruses there are around 6,000 genetic differences (a staggering 20 per cent of the genome). Between these two SARS viruses and other, far less deadly coronaviruses there are even more mutations.

Which of these changes, or combination of these changes, makes SARS-CoV-2 so deadly? This virus has 14 genes in its genome, coding for 27 proteins. Proteins are chains of amino acids and those 6,000 genetic differences result in 380 amino acid changes. Its the changes in amino acids, and what those changes do to protein function, that give each virus its unique character.

SARS-CoV-2 is, like other coronaviruses, a sphere with spikes radiating out of it. In electron microscope images, these spikes form a crown the corona that gives these viruses their name. In infection, the spikes attach to human cells and control the virus genes entering the cells. Different coronavirus spikes bind to different receptors on the cell surface. SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV, for example, bind to different receptors than the MERS virus, resulting in different pathologies.

Every virus has its own form of these spikes, and this large amount of variation in these spikes is a challenge to, and possible solution for, creating a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Vaccines work by training your immune system to recognize an antigen, a specific aspect of an invader.

A challenge for creating a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, or any vaccine, is that because virus surfaces vary so much, antigens change and a vaccine for one virus doesnt recognize another. But, if we can identify something that we know is on the surface of a virus, we can possibly create a vaccine to that antigen. With SARS-CoV-2, its unique spike is just such a possible candidate and work characterizing the spike is underway.

Why do different spikes have different biology? The spikes are proteins, and the differences in spike binding and shape are a function of amino acid changes, but we dont know which ones. In part, our lack of understanding reflects our ignorance of how amino acid changes affect protein shape and function. This is where fundamental science comes in.

My research group studies how amino acid substitutions change protein function and biology: the exact thing we do not understand about the variation in SARS-CoV-2. We study a protein called malic enzyme which converts the chemical compound malate to pyruvate in essentially all living organisms, including Drosophila melanogaster, the fruit fly we work with.

Like every protein, Drosophila malic enzyme is a string of amino acids folded into a three-dimensional form. You can picture this as a ball of rubber bands if the rubber bands were all one long string, and the ball wasnt necessarily round. This not-round aspect is important; the shape that a protein takes depends on the amino acids in that chain.

A proteins shape is determined by how its sequence of amino acids packs. Change an amino acid and you change that shape and shape determines how proteins work. This hierarchy amino acids determine shape, shape determines function holds whether we are looking at a metabolic enzyme or a viral spike protein.

Drosophila malic enzyme is made up of almost 600 amino acids, but across the entire species, only two of these ever differ. At the first site, the two amino acids that we find, alanine or glycine, are fairly similar to each other, but substituting between the two actually changes the enzymes activity by almost 30 per cent, which is a big deal in biology. A closer look at this site may explain the difference in activity.

It is at the edge of the active site of the protein, the pocket in which the enzyme breaks down malate, and part of a helix, a twirl of amino acids forming a spiral staircase-like structure. Alanines form spirals but glycines do not. That 30 per cent difference in activity seems to result from a slightly shorter or longer spiral, a small difference leading to a subtle change in shape but very different biochemistry.

The second site tells a different story. At this site, the two amino acids, leucine or methionine, are also fairly similar to each other, but again we see a difference in biochemistry, here about a 40 per cent difference in the strength with which the enzyme binds to malate. The second site isnt particularly near to any known structure, but is in a region of the protein in which the amino acids lie down in a sheet, interacting to form a pleated surface similar to a pleated skirt. The subtle difference between leucine and methionine likely changes the shape of this sheet, resulting in the difference in binding biochemistry.

Understanding both of these small differences helps us understand how amino acid variation leads to changes in protein function and gets us closer to predicting how other changes in other proteins, like a viral spike, alter their function.

Fundamental science is the basis of much of the work to develop a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Research from labs around the globe is getting us closer to beating the next pandemic. Our fly work is a small part of this process. As we get better and better at understanding protein variation, for example, we get better at designing new vaccines and possibly predicting which viruses have the potential to be deadly.

The COVID-19 pandemic is very unlikely to be the only such crisis we face. There are potentially millions of viruses that could pose threats to humans, not to mention other non-viral pathogens. Success in fighting these threats depends on strong science and strong funding for fundamental research into traditional and novel ways to fight infectious disease.

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Know your target: Fundamental science will lead us to coronavirus vaccines - The Conversation CA

Biochemistry

SIU campus donates needed items to local health and safety agencies – SIU News

SIU has donated several items, including laboratory gowns, examination gloves, and face mask respirators like the one shown above, to local agencies during the health emergency. (photo provided)

April 30, 2020

by Tim Crosby

CARBONDALE, Ill. Southern Illinois University Carbondale has donated a range of items to support those on the front lines of the COVID-19 battle.

Laboratory gowns, face mask respirators, examination gloves and other items have found their way from various SIU departments and programs to local agencies such as theJackson County Health Department,Southern Illinois HealthcareandSIU Family Medicine, among others. SIU's Department of Public Safety has coordinated most of the donations, and Public Safety Director Ben Newman said SIU has an important role to play in the well-being of the area during the current health emergency.

Personal protective equipment is in short supply, and there is an international demand for it. Supplying health care workers and first responders with essential equipment benefits us all, Newman said. SIU is a regional partner to many in the pandemic response effort. We will share resources and equipment. The need is real, and it is now.

Emergency plans activated early

At the start of the emergency, SIU activated its Emergency Operations Center, also known as its all-hazards team, Newman said, which addresses threats to the health and safety of members of the SIU campus and community. The EOC works in coordination with SIH, Jackson County Health Department and others agencies in responding to emergencies.

With that in place, the SIU faculty and staff began doing their part. There are many examples of SIU reaching out in this way.

Digging deep to help

TheSchool of Biological Sciences, for instance, donated 150 medical gowns that found their way to the Jackson County Health Department and 40 badly needed N95 respirators to Carbondale Memorial Hospital. The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry also donated 20 N95s to Jackson County Health Department.

The Department of Public Safety also has received from various university departments and subsequently donated thousands of latex examination gloves, at least100 N95 respirators, some 50 surgical masks, 13 pairs of safety glasses, and four face shields.

SIU also stepped up to provide a chemical needed to fit-test N95 respirators when the local supply ran low.

In addition, Lingguo Bu, associate professor of curriculum and instruction, with support from the SIU STEM Education Research Center, has delivered dozens of 3D printed face shields to SIH. He is one of several faculty and students using 3D printing technology housed at the university to manufacture the shields in the face of growing demand.

Investment in the region

Gary Kinsel, SIU vice chancellor for research, said PPE isnt just important for minimizing transmission of the virus in the general population, but also is essential for the health and safety of our front-line medical providers.

They are heroically putting their lives on the line every day as they deal with infected and potentially infected patients, Kinsel said. As an institution, SIU has always invested itself in the well-being of the Southern Illinois region and is proud to play this important role as a supporter of our regional medical service providers.

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SIU campus donates needed items to local health and safety agencies - SIU News

Biochemistry

Taking the sting out of vaccine delivery – The Irish Times

You work on vaccines that dont need to be delivered using large needles, I like the sound of that. What are you developing?

I am working on delivery systems for vaccines that either use microneedles, where you put a patch on your skin and the vaccine gets delivered painlessly that way, or else the vaccine can be taken orally, by mouth.

Are you currently working on vaccine delivery against the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19?

Yes, I have a collaboration with a biotechnology company in San Francisco called Vaxart. Their vaccine is in a tablet that you swallow. We know this induces great mucosal immune responses, such as in the airways.

This is where coronavirus replicates, so you want a strong immune response to the virus there. They have shown that this protects humans against influenza virus infection and are now developing their platform for SARS-CoV-2.

How did you develop an interest in science?

In school I really liked history and science, and particularly chemistry. Science won out and I studied biochemistry in Cork. When I was an undergraduate, I went to a seminar where a researcher from California spoke about having lab barbecues on the beach.

This appealed to me and I decided research might be a good idea. I did a PhD on HIV vaccines in NUI Maynooth, with Dr Kingston Mills, then I worked as a post-doctoral scientist in the US on HIV and Ebola virus vaccines.

Did research live up to your expectations? Was it all barbecues on the beach?

No, in fact I was quite disillusioned at one point, but then I had a conversation that changed everything. I was on a shuttle bus to the NIH [National Institutes of Health] in the US, and I got chatting with a man who was a patient in a clinical trial. He was so emotional about how science was saving his life that it changed my perspective, and I stayed in science.

I went to work at the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford and learned a lot about how to translate vaccines to the clinic, one of which is a universal flu vaccine. Its great to see that these colleagues and friends are starting their Covid-19 vaccine clinical trial in the next few weeks.

And now you are in University College Cork has the pandemic changed how you work?

The rapid closure impacted all researchers, staff and students. UCC is facilitating essential work related to Covid-19, such as contact tracing, chemotherapy clinics and mass-producing testing buffers. We are grateful that we have access to continue vaccine work.

And when might we have those other vaccines with no painful needles?

We have had some nice results with ImmuPatch, our microneedle patch for delivering vaccines, and we are streamlining the manufacturing process now. We know it works well for the vaccine technologies being tested for SARS-CoV-2.

The benefits will not only be that it doesnt cause pain, it will mean vaccines loaded into the microneedles are stable and wont need to be chilled in transport or storage, and it can be self-administered, so there are lots of advantages.

We just need to source some more funding to finish that project, and for now Covid work in UCC has become more immediate.

Hopefully in the future, vaccines will be easy to administer, with a patch or a tablet. This simplicity will make immunisation more equitable and increase the number of people protected against disease.

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Taking the sting out of vaccine delivery - The Irish Times

Biochemistry

New COVID-19 test kit being rapidly developed using algae – CTV News London

LONDON, ONT. -- The number of COVID-19 cases across the country could be higher than we know, according to a group of scientists at Western University.

"We are underestimating the number of people in the population who have been exposed to the virus," says Dr. Dave Edgell in the Department of Biochemistry at Western's Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry.

"There are some estimates that there may be 10 to 20 times more people infected that are actually being reported as confirmed cases of COVID."

Edgell says thats why his team, in collaboration with Suncor, are working at rapidly developing COVID-19 test kits that would determine if someone has been previously infected and has antibodies for the virus.

"The test will tell you if you have antibodies that your immune system has created to combat the virus."

Dr. Greg Gloor, also from Schulich's Department of Biochemistry says these kits could help researchers investigate herd immunity.

"In order to contain this outbreak we need to know who is currently infected and who has been infected. People who have been infected and have developed a high enough immunity probably have less to fear than people who have not been infected."

The research team is developing these kits by using algae. A new concept that they say would allow tests to be made more cost-effective with the goals of it reaching more people.

"This is where algae comes in, because it can be grown in sea water and sunlight and it doesnt cost anything really compared to the way people make the viral antigens now," says Edgell.

The hopes are to roll out these tests kits by late fall, once production and testing of efficacy is complete.

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New COVID-19 test kit being rapidly developed using algae - CTV News London

Embryology

Response to the Rev. Dr. Matthew Johnson – News – Rockford Register Star

TuesdayApr28,2020at7:15PM

The Register Star ran an interesting editorial by The Rev. Dr. Matthew Johnson. His article is titled "Everyone is worthy of care and inclusion." Johnson is "pro-choice" when it comes to the brutal and vicious dismembering of children in the womb. What he fails to realize, as most abortion supporters fail to realize, is that when they say it should be a legal "choice" to kill a beautiful living little girl or boy in the womb, they are also saying not all people are worthy of care even though science, embryology, 3D and 4D ultrasound technology, theology, human reason and basic decency prove abortion is the killing of a member of our human family.

Johnson says government decisions in regards to reopening the economy should be "guided by justice, compassion, and concern for human dignity." Every abortion is the murder of a child who is a full member of our human family. Abortion destroys justice, compassion and the human dignity of all involved in the act of killing a baby.

Johnson wrote "we cannot and should not have second-class citizenship for anyone." The crushing of the skull and stopping of the beating heart of a person in the womb is a crime against life and the basic human rights of a person in the womb.

He closes his article with, "Everyone is worthy of care and inclusion. No exceptions." He is right, we should have no exceptions to love and respect for all people. We must end the unjust and barbaric legal killing of our preborn sisters and brothers in the womb.

Kevin Rilott, Rockford

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Response to the Rev. Dr. Matthew Johnson - News - Rockford Register Star

Embryology

Fertility clinics granted two-year extension to store frozen eggs – Wales247

There has been a warm reception for Mondays announcement from the Government granting a two-year extension to the period legally permitted for fertility clinics to store frozen eggs, sperm and embryos for use in assisted fertility procedures.

The extension increases the routine storage period from 10 to 12 years, in order to allow additional time for the resumption of fertility services which are currently on hold because of coronavirus.

Health minister, Lord Bethell, explained that the move is to ensure those that have embryos, sperm or eggs stored as part of their treatment are not unfairly caught out by the existing storage limits and have the best possible opportunity to start their family in the future.

Sally Cheshire, chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), has welcomed the government announcement and stated that the HFEA will be issuing guidance to individual clinics on implementing the new extension.

Family law expert Sarah Wood-Heath, a partner with Clarke Willmott LLP, said: This is such an important and reassuring step being taken by the Government.

Undergoing fertility treatment is a difficult and emotional process anyway, and with the difficulties presented by Covid 19 it has been a concern that if patients are unable to proceed with treatment their frozen embryos or gametes may have been destroyed once the 10 year time limit was met.

Patients can now feel reassured that although fertility treatment is currently suspended, once clinical procedures resume they should be able to continue with treatment as previously planned and use the embryos and gametes they already have in storage.

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Fertility clinics granted two-year extension to store frozen eggs - Wales247

Embryology

Heartbreak of IVF cancellations and the desire to have genetically related children – The Conversation UK

These are unsettling and uncertain times. Our lives have effectively been put on hold. And for some people, so too has the opportunity to become a parent with fertility treatments suspended across a number of countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This has left thousands of fertility patients in limbo, experiencing uncertainty and grief.

Following the guidance of the British Fertility Society and the Association of Reproductive and Clinical Scientists, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has issued directions requiring fertility clinics to suspend all treatments (with the exception of fertility preservation for cancer patients).

This is in part because the impact of COVID-19 on pregnant women is still unclear. Fertility treatments also entail close contact between patients and staff, making it impossible to respect social distancing measures. And as caring for COVID-19 patients takes priority in terms of the distribution of available medical resources, fertility treatments have fallen under the category of non-essential treatments and procedures which have been halted across the UK.

This has had very severe consequences for fertility patients. For some, this suspension adds an undefined amount of time to the years trying to conceive before becoming eligible for treatment and to the months on the waiting list for IVF.

For those who have been injecting hormonal medications, closely monitoring their sleep, diet, mental and physical health, all this seems to have been done in vain. The age cutoff to be eligible for IVF varies across the UK. This suspension might mean that women aged 35 in some areas, and 42 in others, will no longer be eligible for treatment.

This raises questions as to what should be considered essential treatments. It could be argued that fertility treatments are indeed non-essential. Trivially, no one is actually dying or missing out on life-saving diagnoses or treatments. Indeed, thinking of having a child during a pandemic, might seem a vanity of vanities.

Within discussions on the ethics of reproductive technologies, some criticise fertility treatments for these reasons especially when they involve the development and use of new technologies. They contend that state funding should be allocated elsewhere and employed for more pressing medical issues. Others also argue that there are many children in need of adoption and that people can become parents in many other ways that do not entail costly and burdensome procedures.

Another critique of reproductive technologies stresses that the decision to undergo fertility treatments is not entirely autonomous and that oppressive societal norms shape peoples preferences. These norms emphasise the value of having genetically related children over other forms of family formation with women taking the biggest health risks.

The COVID-19 pandemic has put unprecedented strain on healthcare systems. So it would be easy to conclude that fertility treatments should not be a priority. But maybe instead, we should rethink their social value.

Infertility can have profound psychological implications and can lead to self-blame and distress. Halting fertility treatments exacerbates all this. But its partly due to social norms that the experience of infertility is so psychologically devastating.

Making fertility treatments a priority during a pandemic and increasing funding in normal times may lend support to the view that a having a genetically related child is the only valuable way of becoming a parent.

This poses a dilemma: should peoples desire to have a genetically related child be fulfilled even if this might promote oppressive social norms?

In her book Resisting Reality: Social Construction and Social Critique, the philosopher Sally Haslanger contends there are two ways to address this difficult problem.

One way is to satisfy peoples desires and bring them as close as possible to fitting social norms. Not halting fertility treatments during the pandemic and increasing funding would be a way to do this. Another way would be to combat the dominance of such social norms, even when there are negative consequences for those involved.

In my research, I focus on the ethical and political questions raised by the development and use of reproductive technologies. My view is that neither of these approaches should be excluded when dealing with this dilemma.

Rather, peoples desire to have genetically related children must be respected, along with an understanding of the costs of not satisfying it. But there is also a need to critically engage with oppressive ideologies and the conditions that sustain them.

In this sense then, the predominance of genetic ties must be questioned along with the value it is attributed. But all this should be complementary to offering practical and moral support to people who are currently experiencing infertility. This is essential.

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Heartbreak of IVF cancellations and the desire to have genetically related children - The Conversation UK