Some recent claims had me wondering whether Liz Parrish is the world’s most genetically modified person. She and her firm BioViva are making that claim. It’s an important question but maybe not for the reason many of us first might think. This is not really about one person. Instead, this is a weighty question because […]
I wrote earlier this week about Medeus clinic in Ukraine seemingly trying to recruit genetics researchers to CRISPR people for trait enhancement. Aiming for CRISPR people with trait enhancement? In the recruitment emails they sent out it seemed fairly clear that they were planning to do CRISPR on people somehow via stem cells. They mentioned
Ukraine clinic seems to backpedal from CRISPR people idea Read More »
Something called, “The International Commission on the Clinical Use of Human Germline Genome Editing” has issued a new report on heritable human genome editing (HHGE). The Commission was convened by the U.S. National Academy of Medicine, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and the U.K.’s Royal Society. This post is my initial take on the summary of
New human genome editing (HHGE) academy report: solid, but key gaps Read More »
Did Chinese researcher He Jiankui really CRISPR gene edit the CCR5 gene in two embryos producing twin baby girls? In my opinion the answer is “no”, but probably not for the reason you might think at first. He proclaims gene edits He claimed he had made twin baby girls with “gene edits”, which I feel is unethical
He Jiankui didn’t really gene edit those girls; he mutated them Read More »
Remember that Shoukhrat Mitalipov lab paper on the use of CRISPR in human embryos? It’s back in the news. One of the biggest stories of 2017 centered on a Nature paper (Ma, et al., see my quick, initial review shortly after it was published here) from Mitalipov’s lab claiming both efficient repair of a disease-causing
Mitalipov rebuts CRISPR pub critiques: strengthens case, but puzzles remain Read More »
More CRISPR’d human embryos, but this time in America? MIT Tech Review is reporting that Oregon scientist Shoukhrat Mitalipov has used CRISPR on human embryos in his lab in the US. Apparently a paper is in the works on this. While details are sketchy and some specifics remain to be clarified to be sure of
In first for U.S., Mitalipov reportedly CRISPR’d human embryos & it was great Read More »
The New York Times recently asked 6 people what sci-fi movie or novel is most prescient today; in my view it’s GATTACA. The responses ran the gamut: Fahrenheit 451, The Martian, The Fifth Season, The Body Snatchers, Book of the New Sun, and Use of Weapons. To me of those 6, the best case can
NYT asks which sci-fi work is most prescient today: I think GATTACA Read More »
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) summit on Human Gene Editing will begin in a few days on December 1 in Washington, D.C. This summit is in part the extension of discussions that started at a more informal meeting on CRISPR earlier this year in Napa organized by Jennifer Doudna and colleagues. The NAS meeting
Live Blogging NAS Human Gene Editing Summit: #GeneEditSummit Read More »
The international stem cell policy and ethics think tank, the Hinxton Group, weighed in yesterday on heritable human genetic modification with a new policy statement. The Hinxton statement is in many ways in agreement with the Baltimore, et al. Nature paper proposing a “prudent path forward” for human germline genetic modification, which came out of
Perspectives on Hinxton Human Germline Modification Statement Read More »
Below is a conversation with bioethics commentator Kelly Hills (who BTW has a great blog), tackling some of the key issues surrounding the potential use of CRISPR-Cas9 technology to make heritable human genetic modification. I really appreciate her clear and insightful answers to some tough questions that many are grappling with today on this topic. Part
Kelly Hills interview: human genetic modification & bioethics Read More »