A Closer Look at the Human Gene Editing Lab
By Karla Lant,
Futurism [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky]
| 08. 21. 2017
As the scientific community takes in the work of the team who edited the DNA of the human embryos this month, different opinions about the safety, efficacy, and potential of the technique abound.
THE GENE EDITING PROCESS
In a lab at Oregon Health & Science University, biologist Shoukhrat Mitalipov and a team of experts have been exploring and learning how to edit the DNA in human embryos efficiently and safely. This month, they announced their successful edit and correction of a mutation which causes a heart condition that can be fatal — hopefully the first landmark step of many on the road to preventing thousands of genetic diseases with editing.
To edit an embryo, a researcher will begin by taking a human egg and monitoring it on a computer screen. They will then inject, with a pipette, donor sperm and CRISPR, microscopic chemical sequences that act as a gene-editing tool, that is designed to make the precise desired edit. CRISPR then goes to work, slicing the target defect from the DNA. After this editing process, the scientists place the embryos...
Related Articles
By Rhys Blakely, The Times | 06.24.2025
Scientists have created fertile mice from male genetic material alone, a breakthrough that could one day open the door to human babies who inherit their genes from two fathers.
The experiment, led by Professor Yanchang Wei at Shanghai Jiao Tong...
By Angus Liu, Fierce Pharma | 06.16.2025
A second patient has died following treatment with Sarepta Therapeutics’ Elevidys, raising more doubts about the Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) gene therapy’s safety profile.
Sarepta and its ex-U.S. partner Roche reported the death early Sunday. Like the first case, disclosed...
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...
By Briana Contreras, Managed Healthcare Executive | 06.17.2025