News

Who’s Looking at Your DNA Data? California Lawmaker Introduces Genetic Privacy Bill

By Andrew Sheeler, The Sacramento Bee | 02.12.2020
A proposed California law would prohibit DNA testing companies like Ancestry and 23andMe from sharing customer DNA information with outside parties without their consent.
Genomics

FamilyTreeDNA Admits to Sharing Genetic Data With F.B.I.

By Matthew Haag, The New York Times | 02.04.2020
The president of one of the country’s largest at-home genetic testing companies has apologized to its users for failing to disclose that it was sharing DNA data with federal investigators.
Genomics

Egg-Freezing: What's the Success Rate?

By Staff Reporter, BBC News | 02.17.2020
If you're thinking of freezing your eggs, you probably want to know how likely you are to get pregnant from a round of IVF. But looking at the success rate for each individual egg (the much lower number) ignores the fact that a round of IVF will involve several eggs.
Assisted Reproduction

OHSS, the IVF Side-Effect Making Women's Fertility Journeys 'Agony'

By Sophie Wilkinson, The Huffington Post UK | 02.08.2020
Side effects of OHSS can range from nausea and vomiting to severe bloating and blood clots. In the worst cases, OHSS can be fatal.
Assisted Reproduction
World wrapped with GACT pattern

Heritable Human Genome Editing Is Not Inevitable

By Donna Dickenson, Katie Hasson & Marcy Darnovsky, Project Syndicate | 03.17.2020

The announcement by the Chinese biophysicist He Jiankui in November 2018 that he had created the world’s first gene-edited babies...

Human Genetic Modification
adult and child holding hands

Students' Genes Cannot Accurately Predict Educational Achievement

By University of Bristol, Phys Org | 03.11.2020

Pupils' genetic data do not predict their educational outcomes with sufficient accuracy and shouldn't be used to design a genetically...

Genomics
close-up photo of a researcher wearing a mask

Want to Do Better Science? Admit You’re Not Objective

By Angela Saini, Nature | 03.09.2020

One of the world’s leading universities — University College London (UCL) — has completed an inquiry into its support for...

Society
women in hospital bed

Curing HIV and sickle cell falls short if the most vulnerable populations are left out

By Francis S Collins, Fortune | 03.08.2020

The year was 1984. I was finishing my medical genetics training at Yale, working on the molecular genetics of disorders...

Society
CRISPR in a vial

Doctors Try 1st CRISPR Editing in the Body for Blindness

By The Associated Press, The New York Times | 03.04.2020

Scientists say they have used the gene editing tool CRISPR inside someone's body for the first time, a new frontier...

Human Genetic Modification
Vial of DNA labeled DNA Test

You Can Learn a Lot About Yourself From a DNA Test. Here's What Your Genes Cannot Tell You

By Libby Copeland, TIME | 03.02.2020

“Have you found an article of clothing with a suspicious stain?” asks the website of one Florida-based company called All...

Bioethics
a strand of DNA

How to Build a Genome

By Michael Eisenstein, Nature | 02.24.2020

Leslie Mitchell had no intention of doing a postdoc. After completing her PhD at the University of Ottawa, she had...

Genomics
sperm swimming to an egg

Eugenic Sperm

By Karen Weingarten, Nursing Clio | 02.24.2020

In 1974, a Los Angeles Times staff writer interviewed Dr. Donald Adler, a Beverly Hills gynecologist who ran a sperm...

Society