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

China gene firm providing worldwide COVID tests worked with Chinese military

By Kristy Needham, Reuters | 01.30.2021

SYDNEY (Reuters) - BGI Group, the world’s largest genomics company, has worked with China’s military on research that ranges from...

U.S. Federal

Why Biden needs to make genetic data privacy a top priority

By Robert I. Field, Anthony W. Orlando, and Arnold J. Rosoff, Philadelphia Inquirer | 01.28.2021

At this very moment, someone, somewhere, might be exposing your intimate genetic data. They probably don’t realize they’re doing it...

Policies

Runaway Biology: A Call for Conscientious Genome Editing with CRISPR

By Søren Hough, SFTP | 01.28.2021

By 2018, it was clear that CRISPR had spun out of control. In the United States, one biotech company managed...

Human Genetic Modification

Is Your DNA Data Safe in Blackstone’s Hands?

By Matthew Ponsford, Neo.Life | 01.28.2021

We’re beginning to get a picture of the people who might have a goldmine in their genome.

The paradox of...

Genomics

The Dawn of CRISPR Mutants

By Eben Kirksey, Sapiens | 01.27.2021

Surreal artwork in the hotel lobby—a gorilla peeking out of a peeled orange, smoking a cigarette; an astronaut riding a...

Human Genetic Modification

The Logic of Eugenics Still Haunts Virginia

By Ellen Wayland-Smith, Boston Review | 01.27.2021

^{Image: Skip Plitt - C'ville Photography,

CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons}

When Elizabeth Catte began researching Pure America...

Society

The Victims Left Behind by Genetic Genealogy

By Jacob Stern, Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic | 01.27.2021

The victims of the so-called Golden State Killer lived in subdivisions and middle-class neighborhoods. They included a nurse, a medical...

U.S. Federal

New 23andMe Tool Assesses Risk of Covid-19 Becoming Severe

By Kristen V Brown , Bloomberg | 01.27.2021

DNA-testing company 23andMe Inc. has launched a new tool that aims to predict an infected person’s risk of developing a...

Society