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

The First Baby Born After Polygenic Embryo Screening

By Kalina Kamenova & Hazar Haidar, Voices in Bioethics | 04.07.2022

ABSTRACT

This article examines the bioethical discourse on polygenic embryo screening (PES) in reproductive medicine in blogs and news stories...

Assisted Reproduction

Couple sues fertility clinic, saying they had to abort stranger’s baby

By Andrea Salcedo, The Washington Post | 04.06.2022

After several unsuccessful attempts to conceive a baby through in vitro fertilization, a Massachusetts couple learned last year that they...

U.S. States

‘It’s a thorny issue.’ Why a fight over DNA data imperils a global conservation pact

By Erik Stokstad, Science | 04.05.2022

For conservation biologists, the highest item on the global agenda this year is persuading the world’s nations to agree on...

Policies

The creator of the CRISPR babies has been released from a Chinese prison

By Antonio Regalado, Technology Review | 04.04.2022

The daring Chinese biophysicist who created the world’s first gene-edited children has been set free after three years in a...

Policies

Crispr Pioneer Expects to See Gene-Edited Babies Within 25 Years

By Angelica Peebles, Bloomberg | 04.04.2022

It’s been 10 years since Crispr pioneer Jennifer Doudna published the landmark paper that landed a Nobel Prize for her...

Human Genetic Modification

Desperately Seeking Surrogates

By Danielle Braff, New York Times | 04.02.2022

Charlie Lee and his husband want to have a baby.

But they are facing a major hurdle: They have 12...

Assisted Reproduction

The map of our DNA is finally complete. Here's what that means for humanity.

By Karen Weintraub, USA Today | 03.31.2022

Scientists are finally done mapping the human genome, more than two decades after the first draft was completed, researchers announced Thursday. About...

Genomics

Blue operating table surrounded by other surgical equipment

Jury Gives $5.25 Million To Woman Impregnated By Fertility Doctor’s Sperm

By Wilson Ring, Huffington Post | 03.30.2022

A federal court jury in Vermont on Wednesday awarded a Florida couple $5.25 million from a doctor who used...

U.S. States