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

CRISPR injected into the blood treats a genetic disease for first time

By Jocelyn Kaiser, Science | 06.26.2021

The gene editor CRISPR excels at fixing disease mutations in lab-grown cells. But using CRISPR to treat most people with...

Human Genetic Modification

He Inherited A Devastating Disease. A CRISPR Gene-Editing Breakthrough Stopped It

By Rob Stein, NPR | 06.26.2021

Patrick Doherty had always been very active. He trekked the Himalayas and hiked trails in Spain.

But about a year...

Human Genetic Modification
Image of covid

For now, stem cells for Covid-19 are mostly a shot in the dark

By Paul Knoepfler, STAT | 06.25.2021

Photo by Fusion Medical Animation on Unsplash

The uncertainty over how to effectively treat Covid-19 is proving to be an...

Stem Cells
person pushing their own wheelchair

Britney Spears’ Reproductive Freedom is a Disability Rights Issue

By Zoe Brennan-Krohn and Rebecca McCray, ACLU | 06.25.2021

There were many shocking moments in Britney Spears’ 24-minute statement calling for an end to her conservatorship, delivered Wednesday to...

Perspectives
Poster for the movie

When a child is born: the film lifting the lid on surrogacy, race and disability

By Cath Clarke, The Guardian | 06.24.2021

There are two films called The Surrogate. The first is a made-for-TV movie about an obsessive fan who cons her...

Society

The ‘race realist’ on campus

By Jason Fagone, San Francisco Chronicle | 06.24.2021

With one painful exception that she still thinks about today, Marisol Schowengerdt enjoyed her classes at Cal State East Bay.

She...

Eugenics
a microscope and screen on a table with the screen displaying a microscopic image of some embryos

ISSCR: grave omission of age limit for embryo research

By Josephine Johnston, Françoise Baylis, & Henry T. Greely, Nature | 06.22.2021

We are researchers with differing views on the ethics of stem-cell and embryo research who nonetheless share deep concerns about...

Policies
ICSSR guidelines

ISSCR: grave omission of age limit for embryo research

By Josephine Johnston, Françoise Baylis & Henry T. Greely, Nature | 06.22.2021

We are researchers with differing views on the ethics of stem-cell and embryo research who nonetheless share deep concerns about...

Stem Cells