NIH to lift moratorium on human—animal chimera research
The US National Institutes of Health is considering lifting a ban on the funding of research to create human-animal 'chimeras' and replacing it with an ethical review process...
BioNews
100 articles
Identity, disability and the genome
My research on families living with the genetic disorder Spinal Muscular Atrophy calls into question some of the assumptions underlying the belief that genetic disease is, inherently and by its very definition, a trait to be avoided...
Second Chinese team create genetically modified human embryos
A second team in China report that they have created genetically modified human embryos, in an attempt to make them resistant to HIV, using the genome-editing technique CRISPR/Cas9...
Mitochondrial replacement techniques: US-style
The US NAS has published a report on the ethical, social and policy considerations relating to mitochondrial replacement techniques. The recommendation that has inevitably attracted most attention, however, is that only male embryos should be transferred, an approach that was considered but rejected in the UK...
Genome editing and CRISPR: The science of engineering the embryo
We report from the third session of the annual conference of the Progress Educational Trust, titled 'Genome Editing and CRISPR: The Science of Engineering the Embryo', which discussed these new technologies and how they might be used in the future...
Why the UK should be leading the discussion on embryo engineering
Sir Mark Walport, the UK's Chief Scientific Adviser, gave the keynote address at the Progress Educational Trust's annual conference, where he highlighted the complexity of assessing emerging science and technology, particularly in relation to genome editing...
What is the germline?
We report from the first session of the annual conference of the Progress Educational Trust, titled 'From Three-Person IVF to Genome Editing: the Science and the Ethics of Engineering the Embryo', in which Professor Azim Surani discussed the germline...
Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the output from a DNA sequencing machine.
Summit agrees genome editing to proceed, with caution
An international summit has agreed conditions under which human genome editing, using techniques like CRISPR, should proceed...
UNESCO's statement on CRISPR/Cas9 highlights the need for public engagement
The UNESCO International Bioethics Committee has released a statement reaffirming an earlier moratorium called by a group of US scientists on the use of CRISPR/Cas9 in human embryos. We argue that the current framing of the debate in terms of dystopic or imagined futures is too narrow and constrains the boundaries of the debate to germline applications...
From here to paternity: older fathers and sperm donation
The eighth child of Charlie Chaplin was born when he was 73 and as far as we know has lived a healthy life. However, whilst most men remain fertile into their old age, it has long been recognised that to father children later in life increases the risk of their...