CGS encourages responsible uses and effecitve governance of human genetic and assisted reproductive technologies

Featured

“He is untouchable”: Penn officials allegedly cover up workplace abuse at James Wilson's Gene Therapy Program

By Katie Hasson | 05.11.2022
Biopolitical Times

 Rehua, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

James Wilson, director of the Gene Therapy Program at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, is facing claims that he has condoned and contributed to a “dysfunctional toxic workplace.” According to reporters at Penn’s independent student newspaper, it appears that top university officials are protecting him from these charges because his biotechnology companies, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, pay lucrative licensing fees to the school.

Twenty years ago...

Patents & Other IP

War in Ukraine Exacerbates Problems with Surrogacy Industry

By Emily Galpern | 03.31.2022
Biopolitical Times

For a roundup of recent articles on the impact of the war on surrogacy, see this page at Surrogacy360, a project of the Center for Genetics and Society

Photos and videos of newborns lined up in plastic cots in a Ukrainian hotel room plastered the news at the beginning of the COVID pandemic; their parents were unable to reach them due to travel restrictions. As soon as Russia invaded Ukraine over a month ago, similar images emerged – though...

Other Countries

Should we use genome editing to make better babies? Here’s what the experts think

By Tim Brinkhof, Big Think [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 03.23.2022

Aggregated News

George Church is one of the world’s most famous pioneers of genetics and biotechnology. He has made colossal contributions to...

Society

Virtual Conference Wrapup: Looking Ahead to the Third Human Genome Editing Summit

By Pete Shanks | 03.15.2022
Biopolitical Times

The Royal Society’s 3-day online substitute for the postponed Third International Summit on Human Genome Editing seems to have been...

Genomics

Biopolitical Times

Threat, Promise, and the Need for Regulation: AI Is Here

By Pete Shanks | 06.23.2022

"Artificial Intelligence & AI & Machine Learning"
by mikemacmarketing is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Artificial intelligence...

U.S. Federal

Do Genes Shape our Politics?

By Pete Shanks | 06.09.2022

Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

I often think it's comical how Nature always does contrive
That every boy and...

Genomics

“We don’t understand this system as well as we thought we did.”

By Pete Shanks | 06.09.2022

Syrian hamster, by John Stockla,
CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The high-profile debates over gene editing, especially...

Animal Biotechnologies

News

Side Effects May Include … A Completely New Hair Color?

By Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic | 06.22.2022

Photo by ANIRUDH on Unsplash

In October 2019, Jordan Janz became the first person in the world to receive an experimental therapy for cystinosis, a rare genetic disease. The treatment was physically grueling. Doctors extracted blood stem cells from Janz’s...

Human Genetic Modification

Half in UK back genome editing to prevent severe diseases

By Ian Sample , The Guardian | 06.22.2022

More than half the UK backs the idea of rewriting the DNA of human embryos to prevent severe or life-threatening diseases, according to a survey.

Commissioned by the Progress Educational Trust (PET), a fertility and genomics charity, the Ipsos poll...

Assisted Reproduction

Where science meets fiction: the dark history of eugenics

By Adam Rutherford, The Guardian | 06.19.2022

Photo by Ante Samarzija on Unsplash

It’s a quirk of history that the foundations of modern biology – and as a consequence, some of the worst atrocities of the 20th century – should rely so heavily on peas. Cast your...

Other Countries

This Father’s Day, spare a thought for the people touched by anonymous sperm donation

By Alison Motluk , The Globe and Mail | 06.18.2022

As you drop your dad’s card into the mailbox, or dial him for a quick chat, or arrange a little get-together to mark the day, spare a thought for the people who will find this Father’s Day agonizing.

Spare a...

Assisted Reproduction

Video
A Dangerous Idea: Eugenics in America
Use Gene Editing to Treat Patients, Not Design Babies
CRISPR: What is the future of gene editing? | Start Here