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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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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...

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this piece are solely my own and do not represent those of my...

"Donald Trump Signs The Pledge" by Michael Vadon 
is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

This is...

By Eric T. Jeungst, AMA Journal of Ethics | 01.01.2021

Abstract

The Holocaust and the racial hygiene doctrine that helped rationalize it still overshadow contemporary debates about using gene editing...

Human genome graphic
By Megan Molteni , Wired | 12.30.2020

IN 1987, WHEN researchers first used the word genomics to describe the newly developing discipline of mapping DNA, Eric Green had...

IVF clinic equipment
By Helen Pidd, The Guardian | 12.29.2020

England’s first not-for-profit IVF clinic is to open in London next year, run by a charity better known for providing...

Home DNA kit
By Darrell Etherington, TechCrunch | 12.29.2020

DNA testing technology company 23andMe  has raised just shy of $82.5 million in new funding, from an offering of...

A crowd under surveillance
By Davide Castelvecchi, Nature | 12.23.2020

After a year of heavy scrutiny and seemingly endless controversy around artificial-intelligence (AI) technologies, the field’s most prestigious conference has...

Cancer cells
By Jocelyn Kaiser, Science | 12.22.2020

It’s troubling news that gene therapy researchers have long anticipated: A hemophilia patient injected with a virus carrying a therapeutic...

crispr dna
By Rob Stein, NPR | 12.15.2020

The last thing a lot of people want to do these days is get on a plane. But even a...

Voter ballot
By Patrick Foong, BioNews | 12.14.2020

The recent close-call US presidential election grabbed headlines, but no less closely-fought was California's Proposition 14, also on the ballot in...