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.

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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
Roll of hundred dollar bills

‘It’s a real-life Hunger Games’: a lifesaving drug costs $2m, but not every child can get it

By Hannah Devlin, The Guardian | 03.05.2022

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Elizabeth Wraige remembers the first time she delivered the diagnosis. “Parents feel as if...

U.S. Federal
golden rice

Genetically Engineered Golden Rice: Real Hope or Misplaced Hype?

By Melissa Waddell, Living Non-GMO | 03.03.2022

The biotech industry loves to talk about precision. 

For example, advocates for genetic engineering and genetic modification have adopted the...

Synthetic Biology
a police officer types on a computer keyboard

SFPD says use of rape victim's DNA in unrelated criminal investigation 'should not have happened'

By J. R. Stone, ABC News | 03.03.2022

Wednesday night the San Francisco Police Chief responded to some tough questions from police commissioners about the use of DNA...

Policies
A doctor explaining an Xray to a patient

Rediscovering a language of healing that doesn’t require ‘cure’

By Lee D. Cooper, STAT News | 03.02.2022

"Doctor Patient and Xray" by andyde is marked with CC BY-NC 2.0.

I am a biotech investor and...

Human Genetic Modification
An image of Cas9

First gene-editing treatment injected into the blood reduces toxic protein for up to 1 year

By Jocelyn Kaiser, Science | 03.01.2022

Cas9 from CRISPR from NIH, CC BY-NC 2.0

The first team to disable a disease gene directly in a...

Human Genetic Modification
Ukrainian flag

Ukraine’s Surrogacy Industry Has Put Women in Impossible Positions

By Alison Motluk, The Atlantic | 03.01.2022

Ukrainian Flag by Jolanta Dyr from Pixabay

Nothing crystallizes the “her body, my baby” conundrum of surrogacy quite like a...

Other Countries
Photo of Jennifer Doudna

UC Berkeley loses CRISPR gene editing patent case

By Lisa M. Krieger, The Mercury News | 02.28.2022

Photo of Jennifer Doudna licensed for reuse under CC BY-SA 3.0

UC Berkeley scientist Jennifer Doudna earned a Nobel Prize...

Policies
Sperm cell reaching an egg cell

When an Ancestry Search Reveals Fertility Fraud

By Jacqueline Mroz, The New York Times | 02.28.2022

Like millions of Americans, David Berry was curious about his genealogy. He wanted to learn more about his paternal grandfather...

U.S. States