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 Brave New World: Should we tread down the path to human germline editing?

By Sheetal Soni, South African Journal of Bioethics and Law | 06.01.2021

Gene-editing tools such as the CRISPR-Cas9 system create an opportunity for individuals to have their DNA edited for specific purposes...

Human Genetic Modification

Two New Laws Restrict Police Use of DNA Search Method

By Virginia Hughes, The New York Times | 05.31.2021

New laws in Maryland and Montana are the first in the nation to restrict law enforcement’s use of genetic genealogy...

Policies

Orchard Exits Life-Saving Bubble-Baby Research in Wake of Flap Over Patient Access

By David Jensen, The California Stem Cell Report | 05.28.2021

Orchard Therapeutics this morning formally announced it was giving up on its life-saving treatment for the bubble baby disease and...

Plastic models of various stages of embryonic development

Stem cell research community drops 14-day limit on human embryo research

By Françoise Baylis, The Conversation | 05.27.2021

^{Image via Flickr CC BY 2.0}

The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), which bills itself as “the...

Synthetic Biology

strands of DNA in different colored vials all in a row

A startup says it helps parents pick healthier embryos. Experts say it’s not that simple

By Melody Petersen, Los Angeles Times | 05.26.2021

The decision of whether to have a child can be hard even under the best of circumstances. For those with...

Assisted Reproduction

Stem cell guidelines open door to more permissive research on human embryos

By Kelly Servick, Science | 05.26.2021

The world’s largest stem cell society this week signaled a willingness to reconsider a long-standing restriction on laboratory efforts to...

Human Genetic Modification

Limit on lab-grown human embryos dropped by stem-cell body

By Nidhi Subbaraman, Nature | 05.26.2021

The international body representing stem-cell scientists has torn up a decades-old limit on the length of time that scientists should...

Genomics

Controversial New Guidelines Would Allow Experiments On More Mature Human Embryos

By Rob Stein, NPR | 05.26.2021

For decades, scientists have been prohibited from keeping human embryos alive in their labs for more than 14 days. The...

Animal Biotechnologies