The majority of trust research has focused on the benefits trust can have for individual actors, institutions, and organizations. This “optimistic bias” is particularly evident in work focused on institutional trust, where concepts such as procedural justice, shared values, and moral responsibility have gained prominence. But trust in institutions may not be exclusively good. We reveal implications for the “dark side” of institutional trust by reviewing relevant theories and empirical research that can contribute to a more holistic understanding. We frame our discussion by suggesting there may be a “Goldilocks principle” of institutional trust, where trust that is too low (typically the focus) or too high (not usually considered by trust researchers) may be problematic. The chapter focuses on the issue of too-high trust and processes through which such too-high trust might emerge. Specifically, excessive trust might result from external, internal, and intersecting external-internal processes. External processes refer to the actions institutions take that affect public trust, while internal processes refer to intrapersonal factors affecting a trustor’s level of trust. We describe how the beneficial psychological and behavioral outcomes of trust can be mitigated or circumvented through these processes and highlight the implications of a “darkest” side of trust when they intersect. We draw upon research on organizations and legal, governmental, and political systems to demonstrate the dark side of trust in different contexts. The conclusion outlines directions for future research and encourages researchers to consider the ethical nuances of studying how to increase institutional trust.

Heart injury and disease following an instance of infarction is one of the most common causes of mortality across the world. Fortunately, experiments involving the transplantation of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes have recently indicated that this therapy has the potential to remuscularize and therefore heal damaged cardiac tissue while improving overall cardiac function. While this may be possible, further advancements in studies have been hindered due to a lack of understanding of the long term effects of this technique. The hypothesis to be tested is that ferritin overexpression in hiPSC-CMs will allow post transplant tracking of cells using magnetic resonance imaging due to the ability to function as a contrast agent. Two different approaches to increase cellular levels of ferritin were attempted. These include electroporation of a plasmid expressing ferritin and transfection of a CRISPR activation plasmid. Transfection efficiency in hiPSC-CMs was evaluated by testing cell viability and concentration of stored iron chloride. Electroporation proved to be unsuccessful by weak signals from the GFP reporter protein. However, overexpression of ferritin in hiPSC-CMs following CRISPR activation plasmid transfection demonstrated high cell viability, an appropriate detection of the presence of iron chloride, and minimal toxicity. The use of iron chloride in this study was also shown to have minimal to no toxic effects. Overall, cells were successfully engineered to overexpress ferritin and will be undergoing MRI testing to determine the efficacy of tracking using this method.

In 2012, a team of scientists across the US conducted an experiment to find the mechanism that allowed a group of flatworms, planarians, to regenerate any body part. The group included Danielle Wenemoser, Sylvain Lapan, Alex Wilkinson, George Bell, and Peter Reddien. They aimed to identify genes that are expressed by planarians in response to wounds that initiated a regenerative mechanism. The researchers determined several genes as important for tissue regeneration. The investigation helped scientists explain how regeneration is initiated and describe the overall regenerative mechanism of whole organisms.

Regeneration is a fascinating phenomenon. The fact that many organisms have the capacity to regenerate lost parts and even remake complete copies of themselves is difficult to fathom; so difficult, in fact, that for a very long time people were reluctant to believe regeneration actually took place. It seemed unbelievable that some organisms could re-grow lost limbs, organs, and other body parts. If only we could do the same! Unfortunately, our regenerative capacities are limited to hair, nails, and skin, while the liver and a few other tissues display more restricted regenerative abilities. What if we could grow back lost limbs, or damaged organs? This question has inspired many stories, dating back to Greek mythology, wherein Prometheus was doomed to regenerate his liver after it had been devoured by birds. Regeneration has permeated many imaginations; it has appeared in many literary and religious texts, and has also provoked much interest from the scientific community.