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
red blood cells

Viral vector unlikely to be cause of leukemia in gene therapy patient

By Jocelyn Kaiser, Science | 03.10.2021

Photo by Paweł Czerwiński on Unsplash

Gene therapy researchers are breathing easier after a company reported today that the modified...

Human Genetic Modification
pregnant woman's belly

Parents Are Demanding Surrogates Who Won’t Get the COVID Vaccine

By Carter Sherman, Vice | 03.09.2021

As a health care worker, Jordan McCutcheon could get the COVID-19 vaccine anytime she wants. But the 28-year-old dental...

Assisted Reproduction
mother and baby

We Should All Be Able to Have Babies Like White People

By Andre M. Perry, The Nation | 03.09.2021

Photo by Larry Crayton on Unsplash

“Push, push, push, Mama; push,” my wife, Joia Crear-Perry, implored. Quiana, angled upright on...

Assisted Reproduction
The face of a Chinese woman

International Women’s Day: China looks at domestic violence, illegal surrogacy, and paternity leave

By Phoebe Zhang, South China Morning Post | 03.08.2021

Photo by Gabrielle Henderson on Unsplash

China’s annual parliamentary meetings, the Two Sessions, are under way in Beijing and...

Assisted Reproduction
Book covers

A biographer and a bioethicist take on the CRISPR revolution

By Jackie Leach Scully, Nature | 03.08.2021

CRISPR People: The Science and Ethics of Editing Humans Henry T. Greely, MIT Press (2021)

The Code Breaker: Jennifer...

Human Genetic Modification

NHS to use world's most expensive drug to treat spinal muscular atrophy

By Phoebe Weston, The Guardian | 03.08.2021

The world’s most expensive drug, which treats babies and young children with a rare and often fatal degenerative disorder, will...

Other Countries
CRISPR

This is the year that CRISPR moves from lab to clinic

By Jennifer Doudna, Wired | 03.08.2021

Since my colleagues and I first described CRISPR as a genome-engineering tool in 2012, the technique has transformed fundamental research...

Human Genetic Modification

She Was Imprisoned for Killing Her 4 Children. But Was It Their Genes All Along?

By Damien Cave, New York Times | 03.08.2021

SYDNEY, Australia — The tabloids in Australia called Kathleen Folbigg a murderer of innocent babies — the nation’s “worst female...

Genomics