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...

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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 CRISPR children

By Vivien Marx, Nature Biotechnology | 11.24.2021

Three years after the ‘CRISPR babies’ burst into the public eye and caused outrage, their fate remains shrouded in secrecy...

Human Genetic Modification

How Egg Freezing & IVF Clinics Are Putting Women At Risk

By Vicky Spratt, Refinery29 | 11.22.2021

There is increasing concern among the medical community that the high doses of hormones involved in fertility treatments – whether...

Public Opinion

As gene-editing moves mainstream, a pioneer in the field is testing whether it could prevent Alzheimer's

By Allison DeAngelis, Insider | 11.22.2021

^{Photo from Beam Therapeutics}

David Liu is best known as one of the pioneers of the experimental science of editing...

Human Genetic Modification

FDA approves first drug for genetic cause of dwarfism

By Damian Garde, STAT | 11.19.2021

The Food and Drug Administration approved the first treatment for the most common cause of dwarfism Friday, a drug that...

Society

CRISPR gene editing causes whole chromosome loss

By Claire Robinson, GMWatch | 11.19.2021

In another of a long line of studies showing unintended effects of gene editing, the CRISPR-Cas gene editing tool has...

Animal Biotechnologies

For me, IVF and other fertility programs can have a darker and less happy side

By Blake Turck, The Washington Post | 11.13.2021

As a little girl, I never dreamed of motherhood. When I got married at 36, I assumed pregnancy would come...

Bioethics

CRISPR-Cas9 Gene Editing May Select for Cells With Cancer-Related Mutations

By Sophia Ktori, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News | 11.12.2021

A comprehensive study headed by researchers at Sanford Burnham Prebys has shown that gene editing—specifically gene knockout (KO)—using CRISPR-Cas9 technology...

Genetic Selection

Biden Chooses Robert Califf to Lead F.D.A., Despite Drug Industry Ties

By Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Sheila Kaplan, The New York Times | 11.12.2021

WASHINGTON — President Biden announced on Friday that he would nominate Dr. Robert M. Califf, a former commissioner of the...

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