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

photo of a white man with grey hair and mustache, crossing his arms and smiling

NIH Director Backs Moratorium for Heritable Genome Editing

By Kevin Davies, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News | 11.08.2019

Francis Collins, MD, PhD, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has reaffirmed his support for a moratorium on...

Human Genetic Modification

Colorful bands indicating DNA test results against a dark blue background

The World's First Gattaca Baby Tests Are Finally Here

By Antonio Regalado, MIT Technology Review | 11.08.2019

Anxious couples are approaching fertility doctors in the US with requests for a hotly debated new genetic test being called...

Assisted Reproduction

A row of babies in hospital cots swaddled in pink and blue blankets

Sequencing the Genome of Every UK Baby Would Be an Ethical Minefield

By Clare Wilson, New Scientist | 11.07.2019

Plans for the National Health Service to sequence the DNA of every baby born in the UK, starting with a...

Genomics

a doctor with white hair explains a medical procedure to a young white couple with brown hair

IVF "Add-On" Procedures Offer False Hope

By Kelly Glass, Medium Elemental [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 11.06.2019

When Pamela Mahoney Tsigdinos and her husband were trying to conceive with in vitro fertilization (IVF), they were presented with...

Assisted Reproduction

Human egg being penetrated by a needle for IVF

From Assisted Hatching to Embryo Glue, Most IVF ‘Add-ons’ Rest on Shaky Science, Studies Find

By Sharon Begley, STAT | 11.05.2019

By the time Sarah Chamberlin’s fertility doctor declared her genes “incompatible” with her husband’s and said the clash might be...

Assisted Reproduction

Your DNA Profile is Private? A Florida Judge Just Said Otherwise

By Kashmir Hill and Heather Murphy, The New York Times | 11.05.2019

For police officers around the country, the genetic profiles that 20 million people have uploaded to consumer DNA sites represent...

Genomics

Fingerprints and data code on a blue background

The DNA Database Used to Find the Golden State Killer is a National Security Leak Waiting to Happen

By Antonio Regalado, MIT Technology Review | 10.30.2019

A private DNA ancestry database that’s been used by police to catch criminals is a security risk from which a...

Genomics

Ethical Research — The Long and Bumpy Road from Shirked to Shared

By Sarah Franklin, Nature | 10.29.2019

In the autumn of 1869, Charles Darwin was hard at work revising the fifth edition of On The Origin of...

Bioethics