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

“Emotional choreography” and the cross-border egg trade

By Alison Motluk, HeyReprotech | 06.08.2021

I've written a fair amount about egg donation over the years and have interviewed donors who travelled places to do...

Assisted Reproduction

pipette and petrie dish under a microscope lens

Human Embryo Research Beyond 14 Days? International Perspectives

By Sheetal Soni and Françoise Baylis, Hastings Center Bioethics Forum | 06.07.2021

Five years ago, independent research teams in the United States and the United Kingdom succeeded in cultivating human embryos in...

Policies

Genome editing technologies: some clarifications but no revision of the Oviedo Convention

By Council of Europe, Press Statement | 06.04.2021

At its 18th plenary meeting (1-4 June 2021), the Committee on Bioethics of the Council of Europe adopted the following...

Policies

A complete human genome sequence is close: how scientists filled in the gaps

By Sara Reardon, Nature | 06.04.2021

When the sequencing of the human genome was announced two decades ago by the Human Genome Project and biotech firm...

Genomics

Which lives matter in reproductive biomedicine?

By Camisha Russell, Reproductive Biomedicine & Society | 06.02.2021

Abstract

The most recent Black Lives Matter moment provides an important opportunity for consideration of the interlocking social and political...

Assisted Reproduction

A person in a white lab coat pipettes liquid into test tubes

Preparing For The Next Generation of Ethical Challenges Concerning Heritable Human Genome Editing

By Robert Klitzman, Bioethics.net | 06.02.2021

On September 5, 2020, the International Commission on the Clinical Use of Human Germline Genome Editing, established by the U.S...

Human Genetic Modification

a test tube a strand of dna and people all together on a blue background

Newer methods may boost gene therapy’s use for more diseases

By Marilynn Marchione, Associated Press | 06.01.2021

Jordan Janz knew his gamble on an experimental gene therapy for his rare disease might be paying off when he...

Human Genetic Modification

Researchers claim they have sequenced the entirety of the human genome — including the missing parts

By Matthew Herper, STAT | 06.01.2021

An international team of scientists says it has sequenced and assembled the entirety of the human genome, including parts that...

Genomics