Search Results for: crispr babies

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

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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Poll: heritable CRISPR tried in humans in next 10 years?

CRISPR-baby

Heritable CRISPR to be tried in humans sooner or later…or never? Will someone somewhere in the world try to use CRISPR gene editing or related technology to introduce heritable genetic changes into actual human beings in the next decade? I’m not talking about gene editing viable human embryos just for research which is already ongoing, …

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Why we shouldn’t view the human embryo as a gizmo even in the CRISPR era

human-embryo-modification

My first job in science was as a lab technician at UCSD School of Medicine and a big part of that job was growing cells called HUVECs or human umbilical vein endothelial cells. We isolated and grew the HUVECs from umbilical cords that we retrieved from the maternity ward of the UCSD hospital, which first …

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Countering that Pro-Heritable Human CRISPR WSJ Piece

human-embryo-modification

It’s germline, heritable human CRISPR time, right? Wrong. But the particularly enthusiastic supporters of heritable human CRISPR often cite hypothetical benefits in glowing terms, but either don’t mention risks or strongly downplay them. These fans also tend to leave alternative, proven and safe technologies such as preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) out of the discussion or …

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Who leaked Mitalipov CRISPR human embryo paper?

CRISPR-human-embryo

The new CRISPR human embryo paper from Shoukhrat Mitalipov is stirring things up, but then there’s also the murky back story as to how the news of this as yet unpublished paper got leaked in the first place. The actual paper is still not out and from what I understand hasn’t even been officially released …

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CRISPR, human genetic modification, & a needed course correction

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Are designer babies made using CRISPR or other genetic modification technologies closer to reality today? If so, what exactly should we do about it? Researchers can use CRISPR to genetically modify just about any organism or its cells, but targeting humans is the subject of the most intense discussion including using CRISPR in the human germline …

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First anti-CRISPR political campaign is born in Europe

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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George Church chat: CRISPR people, Zika, weapons

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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GMO Sapiens: An excerpt from my new book on human #CRISPR

GMO-Sapiens-Book-Cover

My new book GMO Sapiens just recently came out. You can see a few reviews of it here and you can order it here. It’s an approachable, quick read on the unsettling, but exciting topic of using CRISPR gene editing technology to make a new kind of people. Here’s an excerpt from the book (publisher: World …

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Reviews of my new book GMO Sapiens on #CRISPR & human modification

GMO-Sapiens-Book-Cover

It’s exciting that the reviews are starting to come in on my new book, GMO Sapiens, on human genetic modification including CRISPR. Here is one from The Scientist and the book was recommended by Scientific American. Reviews from individual authors and scientists are below. “GMO Sapiens could not be more timely. New technologies like CRISPR-Cas9 gene …

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