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The landmark conference, announced Monday by the Washington, D.C.-based National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Medicine, will gather researchers and other experts to review and explore the scientific, ethical and social implications of the practice, which can "cut and paste" gene sequences.
Called CRISPR, an acronym for "clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats," Doudna's tool creates the prospect of a future with less sickness -- but could alter future generations -- influencing human evolution by changing the genes in reproductive cells.
The decision to hold a summit follows last month's news that Chinese researchers created the first genetically modified humans, altering nonviable embryos to try to fix the gene defect that causes beta thalassemia, a blood disease.
Doudna and colleagues, including Stanford University bioethicist Hank Greely, last month called for...
The debate over human "gene editing" has moved onto the national stage with a prestigious institute announcing it will hold an international summit this fall to create voluntary standards to guide the use of the controversial technology, first conceived by UC Berkeley molecular biologist Jennifer Doudna.