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...

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

How the Los Angeles Times shilled for the racist eugenics movement

By Alexandra Minna Stern, Los Angeles Times | 02.28.2021

Last month, Caltech announced that the names of six men with historical ties to the university would be removed from...

U.S. Federal

Was “science” on the ballot?

By Stephen Hilgartner, J. Benjamin Hurlbut, Sheila Jasanoff, Science | 02.26.2021

On 7 November 2020, moments before Kamala Harris and Joe Biden began their victory speeches, giant screens flanking the stage...

U.S. Federal

Decoding the CRISPR-baby stories

By J. Benjamin Hurlbut, MIT Technology Review | 02.24.2021

The conventional story of CRISPR genome editing is one of heroic power and promise with an element of peril. That...

Human Genetic Modification

Response to Levrier re: Human Germline and Heritable Genome Editing: The Global Policy Landscape

By Marcy Darnovsky, Katie Hasson, and Timothy M. Krahn, The CRISPR Journal | 02.19.2021

In response to: https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/crispr.2021.29121.gle

Levrier apparently misunderstands the nature of our project published in The CRISPR Journal in October 2020...

Policies

Sickle cell anemia blood under microscope

Novartis and the Gates Foundation aim to create a more practical gene therapy for sickle cell patients around the world

By Elizabeth Cooney, STAT | 02.17.2021

^{Image licensed under the CC BY 3.0}

Novartis and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are joining forces to discover...

Human Genetic Modification

Bluebird suspends studies of sickle cell gene therapy following cancer diagnoses in two more treated patients

By Adam Feuerstein, STAT | 02.16.2021

Bluebird Bio said Tuesday that it has suspended clinical trials involving its gene therapy for sickle cell disease after receiving...

Human Genetic Modification

Gene therapy trials for sickle cell disease halted after two patients develop cancer

By Jocelyn Kaiser, Science | 02.16.2021

A company has stopped its clinical studies of a promising gene therapy for the blood disorder sickle cell disease after...

Human Genetic Modification

New ZIP code data reflects disparities in N.Y.C.’s vaccination effort, officials say.

By Mihir Zaveri, The New York Times | 02.16.2021

Officials in New York City released new data by ZIP codes on Tuesday that they said underscored troubling disparities in...

Bioethics