Human gene editing
Viewpoint: We aren’t prepared to ‘responsibly’ handle a genetic engineered future
The news last November that a rogue Chinese scientist had genetically altered the embryos of a pair of Chinese twins ...
‘Brazen’ biohacker under investigation by California health officials for ‘genetic self-experimentation’
Prominent genetic "biohacker" Josiah Zayner is under investigation by California state officials for practicing medicine without a license. Zayner has ...
Viewpoint: We should be careful about ‘crossing the germline’ in gene editing humans
CRISPR gene editing has the possibility to transform disease management, but we can't be scared of editing somatic cells ...
Would ‘designer babies’ herald a new era of eugenics?
September [2018] saw the announcement from scientists of the first manufacture of human egg cells in the lab. … Despite the apparent ...
Does a future with genetic enhancements undermine ‘the idea that we are all equal’?
Sex is how humans propagate. But developments in genetic engineering might change this one day. “We are, in the future, ...
With a simple tweak, CRISPR’s genetic scissors get an accuracy boost
Without ensuring high levels of accuracy, any proposed CRISPR gene therapy becomes a genetic crapshoot. Now, a team from Duke ...
Japanese researchers gain approval for ‘basic research’ on gene-edited human embryos
A government research panel specializing in life ethics approved the modification of genes from fertilized human eggs for basic research ...
Off-target RNA mutations: Why this ‘more precise genome-editing’ technique needs improvement
Base editors designed to convert one DNA nucleotide to another may also perform large numbers of unwanted edits to RNA, ...
Families plagued by inherited diseases push back against ban on gene-edited embryos
In 2012, scientists showed that CRISPR, an ancient bacterial immune system, can edit DNA. ... Barely three years after, leaders in ...
Viewpoint: He Jiankui’s CRISPR babies experiment was ‘even worse than I first thought’
When He Jiankui announced the birth of twin girls whose DNA he had modified when they were embryos using the CRISPR ...
Stanford investigation clears faculty members that knew about CRISPR baby scandal
A Stanford investigation has cleared three prominent faculty members of helping with a controversial gene-editing experiment led by disgraced Chinese ...
3 promising CRISPR therapies, including one targeting Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
With dozens of efforts in the making, from premature aging to obesity and developmental brain disorders, here are the frontrunners ...
Viewpoint: Gene-edited kids are no riskier than the non-edited variety
"The introduction of genetic modifications into future generations could have permanent and possibly harmful effects on the species," a group ...
Why Nobel laureate David Baltimore doesn’t support moratorium on CRISPR babies
Some scientists have recently proposed a temporary moratorium on editing that would result in babies that carry heritable changes. … Science ...
Viewpoint: No, we don’t need a moratorium on germline gene editing
Should researchers put the brakes on genetically engineering babies? Leading scientists and ethicists recently called for a moratorium on clinical applications of germline ...
Genetically engineered humans: How do we decide when it’s ethical to create them?
Bioethicist Matthew Liao is open to genetic engineering in theory, but he says he was rather horrified to learn that ...
Is society ready for the changes CRISPR can bring?
Crispr works in almost every animal that scientists have tried, from silkworms to monkeys, and in just about every cell ...
We need a ‘global registry’ of all human gene-editing research, World Health Organization panel says
An influential committee of the World Health Organization said on [March 19] that it would be “irresponsible” to try to ...
When targeting diseases, how worried should we be about CRISPR’s potential for gene-editing errors?
Of all the big, world-remaking bets on the genome-editing tool known as Crispr, perhaps none is more tantalizing than its ...
China tightens gene-editing regulations in wake of CRISPR baby scandal
China’s health ministry has issued draft regulations that will restrict the use of gene editing in humans, just three months ...
Among questions lingering after CRISPR-babies controversy: When will it happen again?
In the three months since He Jiankui announced the birth of twin girls with edited genomes, the questions facing the ...
Gene editing police? World Health Organization may take on the job
Who’s going to police CRISPR? That was the cry of many scientists after news broke at the end of last ...
‘Genetic crapshoot’: Two studies suggest clinical use of CRISPR hampered by off-target editing
The version of CRISPR whose selling point has been its precision suffers, ironically, from the same shortcoming that has dogged ...
Can vaccines be supercharged by CRISPR, creating ‘one-and-done’ virus protection?
Vaccines are risky or ineffective in people with compromised immune systems, they don’t even exist for several viral diseases, and ...
First gene-editing experiments on adults suffering from rare metabolic disorders offer promising early results
In late 2017, scientists first began attempting to edit the genes of adults to treat rare genetic disorders. Preliminary results ...
What the CRISPR baby controversy can teach us about ethics through the ages
[H]ow should we assess the ethics of new biomedical procedures when we know that society’s views may change? More specifically, ...
Stanford investigating whether faculty has ties to controversial Chinese CRISPR baby experiment
Officials at Stanford University have opened an investigation into what several high-profile faculty members knew about a Chinese effort to ...
