Search Results for: human embryo genetic modification

Counterpoints to Lovell-Badge & Daley’s CRISPR baby rationales

February 1, 2021 / By / 5 Comments
CRISPR-baby

Two prominent scientists, Robin Lovell-Badge and George Daley, have been amongst the most outspoken proponents of leaving the door open to heritable human genetic modification via CRISPR. While they each have articulated their reasons in somewhat different ways at times, their core reasons arguing in favor of future heritable CRISPR appear largely the same. In …

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He Jiankui didn’t really gene edit those girls; he mutated them

February 1, 2021 / By / 10 Comments
CRISPR-gene-edit-vs-mutation-1

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 …

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Why CRISPR baby production (if it happened) was unethical & dangerous

February 1, 2021 / By / 8 Comments
Jiankui-He-who-claims-CRISPR-baby-production

Reports are out that a scientist in China has been working to make a CRISPR baby for some time and supposedly has made twin genetically modified babies. I see this work as unethical and dangerous. Just a couple years ago when I published my book GMO Sapiens on potential use of CRISPR in a heritable manner …

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Mitalipov rebuts CRISPR pub critiques: strengthens case, but puzzles remain

February 1, 2021 / By / 1 Comment
Ma-et-al.-2018-Nature-FIgure-1

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 …

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Mulling over latest CRISPR tumult, this one from Nat Biot pub on DNA lesions

February 1, 2021 / By / 4 Comments
CRISPR-dart-board

If it seems to you like dramatic cautionary tales about CRISPR accompanied by all sorts of media are coming at us more frequently, it’s not your imagination. In the latest yesterday, it was reported in a new paper led by Allan Bradley that CRISPR-Cas9 results in sometimes large-scale chromosomal lesions at or even away from the …

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Is monkey cloning a breakthrough or a bad idea?

February 1, 2021 / By / 10 Comments
Monkey-clones

Is monkey cloning a good idea? We’re about to find out. A new Cell paper today reports the first cloning of monkeys via somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), raising many questions. The paper from a team led by Qiang Sun is entitled, “Cloning of Macaque Monkeys by Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer.” The highlight bullet points …

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First 3-person IVF baby born via “rogue” experiment at Mexico clinic?

February 1, 2021 / By / 5 Comments
John-Zhang-with-3-person-IVF-baby

Today we got the first report of a baby being born via so-called “3-person IVF”, sometimes called 3-parent IVF, in which the DNA of three people contribute to an offspring. Before discussing this further I have to emphasize that we need proof that this is indeed really a 3-person IVF baby via genetic testing. Until that …

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First anti-CRISPR political campaign is born in Europe

February 1, 2021 / By / 2 Comments
Stop-Baby-GM

Campaigns are underway in several European countries against the possible use of genetic modification in humans to make designer babies and one has a distinctly anti-CRISPR tone. For example, in France a group is pushing an anti-GM baby campaign and the same kind of thing is going on in Switzerland, which I blogged about recently. In …

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UK should freeze mitochondrial replacement as Egli paper ID’s serious problem

February 1, 2021 / By / 1 Comment
Egli-genetic-drift-paper

An important new Cell Stem Cell paper from Dieter Egli’s lab points to an inherent, serious problem with so-called 3-person IVF or mitochondrial replacement technology that warrants putting an immediate hold on all efforts to use it in humans. I have pasted the graphical abstract from the paper below. For years a few of us scientists and …

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George Church chat: CRISPR people, Zika, weapons

January 21, 2023 / By / 4 Comments
George-Church

I talked last year about human genetic modification by CRISPR with George Church a year ago. Now we’ve followed up with a long chat on this topic going into much more detail and with questions on recent developments. Each question is listed numerically and then there is a back and forth on that question with George …

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