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
blue strand of dna dissolving into blue background

A Story of Perseverance: An Interview with Matthew Porteus

By Kevin Davies, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News | 06.27.2024

Physician-scientist Matthew Porteus, MD, PhD, has been a mainstay in the genome editing field for more than two decades. He...

Patents & Other IP
Image of a European Union meeting room

From Silent Atrocities to Justice: Examining the Legal Landscape of Forced Sterilisation of Women with Disabilities across Europe

By Shivam Jadaun and Shivani, JURISTnews | 06.27.2024

Image by European Council from Flickr

In some European Union nations, the forced sterilisation of people with disabilities is still...

Other Countries
Partial image from Bridge Recombination Mechanism video

Come Together: Bridge RNAs Close the Gap to Genome Design

By Jonathan D. Grinstein, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News | 06.26.2024

Partial screenshot from The Bridge Recombination Mechanism
video by The Arc Institute on YouTube (CC)

Buried in a family...

Human Genetic Modification
Green, blue, and yellow image of a stem cell

Biopolitical Times on CIRM's 'Depressingly Small Number of Effective Treatments or Cures'

By David Jensen [cites CGS' Pete Shanks], The California Stem Cell Report | 06.24.2024

Image by NIH Image Gallery from Flickr

The Biopolitical Times reported this month that the California stem cell and gene...

Stem Cells
Sign stating, "disability rights = civil rights," from a disability rights protest.

Supreme Court outlawed segregation of disabled people 25 years ago. But change has come slowly

By Timmy Broderick, STAT | 06.21.2024

Image by The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights from Flickr 

As a toddler, Veronica Ayala loved Fridays...

U.S. States
Red and yellow poster stating: "Only healthy seed must be sown! Check the seeds of hereditary disease and unfitness by eugenics."

The legacy of eugenics

By Sheila Kaplan, UC Berkeley School of Public Health | 06.20.2024

Image by Gennie Stafford from Flickr

These days, it’s a rare scientist who would admit to working in eugenics.

The...

Human Genetic Modification
richard lynn

Journals that published Richard Lynn’s racist ‘research’ articles should retract them

By Dan Samorodnitsky, Kevin Bird, Jedidiah Carlson, James Lingford, Jon Phillips, Rebecca Sear, and Cathryn Townsend, STAT | 06.20.2024

Photo modified from original by Gothik from Wikimedia Commons under CC by S.A. 3.0

In 2012, the Elsevier journal Personality...

Eugenics
blood cells on burgundy background

A New Podcast About Gene Therapy Is Set To Premiere On World Sickle Cell Day

By Elizabeth Ayoola, Essence | 06.18.2024

June 19th is World Sickle Cell Day, and to raise awareness about the condition, Wunmi Bakare and Dima Hendricks...

Biopolitics