News

'Superbabies' Startup Seeks Funds for Controversial Gene Editing Push

By Sophie Alexander and Ike Swetlitz, Bloomberg | 06.25.2025

A California-startup focused on genetically editing human embryos — a step toward creating so-called designer babies — is raising money as many of Silicon Valley’s ultra-rich turn their attention to one of the most controversial technologies in medicine.

Bootstrap Bio...

Patents & Other IP

Can doctors test embryos for autism? And should they?

By Brittany Luse, Liam McBain, and Neena Pathak, NPR [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 05.28.2025

A newly available kind of genetic testing, called polygenic embryo screening, promises to screen for conditions that can include cancer, obesity, autism, bipolar disorder, even celiac disease. These conditions are informed by many genetic variants and environmental factors - so...

Genetic Selection

Why Deleting Your 23andMe Data Is a Political Imperative

By Katie Sagaser, The DNA Exchange | 05.27.2025

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this piece are solely my own and do not represent those of my...

U.S. Federal

Trumpian “Common Sense” and the History of IQ Tests

By Pepper Stetler, Los Angeles Review of Books | 05.08.2025

^{"Donald Trump Signs The Pledge" by Michael Vadon

is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.}

This is...

Society

'Not a horse and pony show': At FDA cell and gene roundtable, officials look for ways to cut red tape

By Darren Incorvaia, Fierce Biotech | 06.05.2025

^{"Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. speaking with supporters at a campaign rally at Legends Event Center in Phoenix, Arizona...}

Genomics

Kennedy Says ‘Charlatans’ Are No Reason to Block Unproven Stem Cell Treatments

By Christina Jewett, The New York Times | 06.05.2025

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently declared that he wanted to expand access to experimental therapies but conceded that...

Policies

First Personalized CRISPR Gene Editing Therapy Patient Baby KJ Discharged

By Jonathan D. Grinstein, PhD, Inside Precision Medicine | 06.03.2025

On Tuesday, 307 days after he was first admitted to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), KJ Muldoon went home after...

Genetic Selection

Trump Taps Palantir to Compile Data on Americans

By Sheera Frenkel and Aaron Krolik, The New York Times | 05.30.2025

In March, President Trump signed an executive order calling for the federal government to share data across agencies, raising...

U.S. Federal

The Techno-Futuristic Philosophy Behind Elon Musk’s Mania

By Matthew Purdy, The New York Times | 05.29.2025

^{Image “Elon Musk” by Debbie Rowe, Royal Society on

Wikimedia Commons licensed under CC by S.A. 3.0}

As Elon Musk...

U.S. Federal

The US Is Storing Migrant Children’s DNA in a Criminal Database

By Dhruv Mehrotra, Wired | 05.29.2025

THE UNITED STATES government has collected DNA samples from upwards of 133,000 migrant children and teenagers—including at least one 4-year-old—and uploaded...

Policies

Donald Trump’s Decades-Long Obsession With Eugenics

By Julia Métraux, Mother Jones | 05.28.2025

^{"Donald Trump speaking with supporters at a campaign rally at the South Point Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada"...}

U.S. Federal

Gene editing leaders call for 10-year suspension of heritable human genome editing

By Darren Incorvaia, Fierce Biotech | 05.28.2025

An international group of gene editing leaders has put out a call for a 10-year ban on heritable human genome...

Policies