human genetic modification Archives - Page 2 of 2

Nita Farahany Interview on Human Germline Modification: Defining A Road Forward

July 28, 2015 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 1 Comment

The topic of heritable human genetic modification has been heating up recently. Prominent scientists, ethicists, and legal scholars have being weighing in, and there is a range of attitudes. Some favor a complete, moratorium including even lab work, while on the other end of the spectrum there are those who have a more liberal perspective. Many […]

Nita Farahany Interview on Human Germline Modification: Defining A Road Forward Read More »

Public polling on human gene editing, moratorium

May 21, 2015 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 1 Comment

Many of us scientists, ethicists, and legal scholars are working on educational outreach to the public on the potential use of gene editing technologies like CRISPR to genetically modify human beings, but clearly there’s a long way to go and much more to do on this front. By the way, you may find this new

Public polling on human gene editing, moratorium Read More »

GMO: Why 3 Such Difficult Little Letters?

May 5, 2015 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 11 Comments

What is a GMO? I realized a few years ago that I really should know a lot more about the whole debate over genetically modified (GM) organisms (GMOs). What are the facts on GMOs? As a scientist who has for many years done amongst other things genetics research including making and studying so-called “knockout mice”

GMO: Why 3 Such Difficult Little Letters? Read More »

4 areas of debate on 1st human embryo genetic modification paper

April 27, 2015 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 5 Comments

Last week was a big one for the life sciences in that we saw the milestone of the first ever published paper reporting human embryo genetic modification (see here and here). It was one of those situations where we knew it was coming, but it was still a jolt. Not surprisingly this event sparked intense discussion

4 areas of debate on 1st human embryo genetic modification paper Read More »

Researchers in China make genetically modified human embryos

April 22, 2015 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 3 Comments

Rumors have been flying for months that researchers in China and possibly elsewhere were shopping papers around at high-profile journals that reported gene editing and genetic modification of human embryos. Update: apparently this paper (HT to @JohnBorghi) was only reviewed for 2 days (see image at bottom of post), raising major concerns about the depth of

Researchers in China make genetically modified human embryos Read More »

Genetic Modification of Humans Now Inevitable?

March 29, 2015 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 2 Comments

Discussion of concerns over heritable human genetic modification has spiked in 2015. This dialogue is a good thing, but is it in a sense too late? Are genetically modified (GM) people a foregone conclusion? Rumors are swirling that upwards of four papers reporting production of GM human embryos are in various stages of review at high-profile

Genetic Modification of Humans Now Inevitable? Read More »

Lisa Ikemoto on Human Germline Genetic Modification

March 23, 2015 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 2 Comments

This guest piece on Human Germline Genetic Modification is by Lisa C. Ikemoto, Professor, U.C. Davis School of Law. I have been following the reports about genetic editing technology with concern. The fact that some scientists are calling for moratoria on gene editing of human embryos heartens me. Frankly, I had little confidence that any

Lisa Ikemoto on Human Germline Genetic Modification Read More »

David Baltimore, et al. path for human germline engineering

March 19, 2015 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D.

In a new perspectives piece in Science, Nobel Laureate David Baltimore and co-authors including Jennifer Doudna and George Church, chart a potential path forward for human germline engineering. See also accompanying Bioethics piece by Gretchen Vogel as well, “Embryo engineering alarm”. In the piece, entitled “A prudent path forward for genomic engineering and germline gene

David Baltimore, et al. path for human germline engineering Read More »

human genetic modification

Subscribe to Our Newsletter