Tag: human

Maryland Honored with WebAward for Office of Human Services’ Superb Accomplishment in World-wide-web Enhancement

Laurent

 The Maryland Division of Human Expert services declared today that its internet site was awarded the the WebAward for Outstanding Achievement in Net Enhancement. The 24th annual WebAwards is the longest operating competition devoted to naming the greatest web sites in 96 industries when environment the typical of excellence for all web-site advancement.

Organized by the Internet Promoting Affiliation, entries from 42 nations had been submitted for the duration of the levels of competition. Judges from market leaders like Microsoft, IBM, McAfee, Warner Bros. Photographs, Xerox, and Nationwide Geographic ended up amongst the panel deciding on the winners.

Entries were being judged on 7 criteria: design and style, innovation, information, technological know-how, interactivity, copywriting and ease of use to target viewers. All through the stringent analysis process, the judges stop by each web-site and presume the function of a goal person. In Maryland’s situation, judges would have assumed the part of a vulnerable Marylander in have to have of support and heading to the Department of Human Services’ internet site searching for aid.

“Our constituents’ desires and providing superb consumer support are the driving forces driving everything we do,” said Lourdes R. Padilla, Secretary of the Maryland Office of Human Products and services. “As we continue on our development with Maryland’s Complete Human-services Built-in Community (MD Think), this award demonstrates our innovative method to internet development and the standards of excellence we are implementing to all of the substantial scale technology initiatives our company is main.”

The Office of Human Services’ website earned close to great scores in Layout (9.5), Content (9.5), and Copywriting (9.), with one judge praising, “A seriously awesome web page. Easy to navigate, excellent choice of easy but successful colours. Good job!” This stands as a specifically notable achievement for the Division, when when compared to the Business Normal scores for these categories now at just 7.5, 8.1, and 8. respectively.

“Our web site was built to prioritize customer assistance and give a streamlined, functional system that connects our consumers in fewer clicks to the data that they require, whilst also making the most sought-just after

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Conception: How Silicon Valley hatched a plan to turn blood into lab-made human eggs

Laurent

A few years ago, a young man from California’s technology scene began popping up in the world’s leading developmental biology labs. These labs were deciphering the secrets of embryos and had a particular interest in how eggs are formed. Some thought if they discovered that recipe, they would be able to copy it and transmute any cell into an egg.

Their visitor, Matt Krisiloff, said he wanted to help. Krisiloff didn’t know any biology, and he was only 26. But after leading a research program at Y Combinator, the famous startup incubator in San Francisco that was an early funder of such companies as Airbnb and Dropbox, he said, he was “well connected,” with access to wealthy tech investors.

Krisiloff also had a specific interest in the artificial-egg technology. He’s gay, and he knew that theoretically, a cell from a man could be turned into an egg. If that were ever possible, two men could have a child that was genetically related to both. “I was interested in the idea of ‘When can same-sex couples have children together?’” says Krisiloff. “I thought that this was the promising technology for doing this.”

Today the company Krisiloff started, called Conception, is the largest commercial venture pursuing what’s called in vitro gametogenesis, which refers to turning adult cells into gametes—sperm or egg cells. It employs around 16 scientists and has raised $20 million from well-known tech figures including Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI and former president of Y Combinator; Jaan Tallinn, one of the founders of Skype; and Blake Borgeson, a cofounder of Recursion Pharmaceuticals.

The company is initially trying to make replacement eggs for women. That’s scientifically easier than making eggs from male cells, and it has an obvious market. People are having kids later in life, but a woman’s supply of healthy eggs nosedives in her 30s. It’s a major reason patients visit IVF clinics.

Conception is starting with blood cells from female donors and trying to transform these into the first “proof-of-concept human egg” made in the lab. The company hasn’t done it yet—nor has anyone else. There

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