PET PET
  • My Account
  • Subscribe
Become a Friend Donate
  • About Us
    • People
    • Press Office
    • Our History
  • Get Involved
    • Become a Friend of PET
    • Volunteer
    • Campaigns
    • Writing Scheme
    • Partnership and Sponsorship
    • Advertise with Us
  • Donate
    • Become a Friend of PET
  • BioNews
    • News
    • Comment
    • Reviews
    • Elsewhere
    • Topics
    • Glossary
    • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Previous Events
  • Engagement
    • Policy and Projects
      • Resources
    • Education
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
    • People
    • Press Office
    • Our History
  • Get Involved
    • Become a Friend of PET
    • Volunteer
    • Campaigns
    • Writing Scheme
    • Partnership and Sponsorship
    • Advertise with Us
  • Donate
    • Become a Friend of PET
  • BioNews
    • News
    • Comment
    • Reviews
    • Elsewhere
    • Topics
    • Glossary
    • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Previous Events
  • Engagement
    • Policy and Projects
      • Resources
    • Education
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us
  • My Account
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements
PETBioNewsNewsSwedish scientist edits genomes of healthy human embryos

BioNews

Swedish scientist edits genomes of healthy human embryos

Published 14 November 2016 posted in News and appears in BioNews 870

Author

Anneesa Amjad

Image by K Hardy via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human embryo at the blastocyst stage (about six days after fertilisation) 'hatching' out of the zona pellucida.
CC BY 4.0
Image by K Hardy via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human embryo at the blastocyst stage (about six days after fertilisation) 'hatching' out of the zona pellucida.

A scientist in Sweden has become the first to edit genes in healthy human embryos...

A scientist in Sweden has become the first to edit genes in healthy human embryos.

Dr Fredrik Lanner, a developmental biologist at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, is using the revolutionary genome-editing technique CRISPR/Cas9 in human embryos in order to learn more about early embryogenesis.

CRISPR/Cas9 can be used to remove or replace target genes much more accurately and efficiently than previous genome-editing technologies. Dr Lanner is knocking out genes in order to reveal their function. He states that in the future this knowledge may aid research into possible treatments for infertility and diseases such as Parkinson's.

'[CRISPR/Cas9] actually opens the door to start to look at this for the first time, because we could not do this at all previously in the human embryo. The technology was just not efficient enough to try to look at individual gene function as the embryo develops,' Dr Lanner stated in an interview with NPR.

Dr Lanner has edited at least a dozen embryos, but is still studying his results and refining his techniques. The embryos that undergo genome editing in Dr Lanner's work will not be implanted and will be destroyed after two weeks. This requirement also applies to research involving genome editing in human embryos in the UK; edited embryos must be destroyed 14 days post-fertilisation.

Despite this time constraint, some people are worried that this work is an ethical 'slippery slope'. It is feared that detrimental changes to the human genome may cause novel diseases to arise in future generations. Another concern is a future in which prospective parents may be able to design the characteristics of their children.

Dr Lanner recognises these concerns, saying: 'It's not the technology that should be taken lightly. So I really of course stand against any sort of thought that one should use this to design designer babies or enhance [for] aesthetic purposes and so on.'

Dr Lanner believes that research projects like his should continue in the face of these ethical concerns because of the potential benefits: treatments for disease and infertility.

Last year the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine established a Human Gene-Editing Initiative in response to advances in the field of genome editing. The group has suggested that while fundamental research like Dr Lanner's is acceptable, applying CRISPR/Cas9 in human reproduction requires much more ethical and scientific attention.

UK scientists have also gained approval to perform similar genome-editing research later this year (see BioNews 837), while last year a team of Chinese scientists carried out genome editing in non-viable human embryos (see BioNews 799).

On Wednesday 7 December, the Progress Educational Trust is holding a one-day conference entitled 'Rethinking the Ethics of Embryo Research: Genome Editing, 14 Days and Beyond', where speakers will include the first researcher licensed by the UK regulator to use genome editing in human embryo research.

Click here for full for full details, including the conference agenda and how to book your tickets, and email sstarr@progress.org.uk with any queries.

Related Articles

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.
CC BY 4.0
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 sequencing output from an automated DNA sequencing machine.
News
2 October 2017 • 4 minutes read

Doubt over human embryo editing study

by Annabel Slater

A group of scientists have challenged the landmark study which reported the first successful editing of human embryos for a genetic disease...

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.
CC BY 4.0
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 sequencing output from an automated DNA sequencing machine.
News
2 October 2017 • 2 minutes read

First genome editing of human embryos by UK scientists

by Paul Waldron

UK scientists have successfully edited the genome of human embryos to study the role of a gene key to the earliest stages of development...

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.
CC BY 4.0
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 sequencing output from an automated DNA sequencing machine.
News
31 August 2017 • 3 minutes read

US lab may have edited human embryos for first time

by Charlotte Spicer

Scientists in the US may have successfully used genome editing in human embryos to correct disease mutations, according to a report by MIT Technology Review...

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.
CC BY 4.0
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 sequencing output from an automated DNA sequencing machine.
News
31 August 2017 • 3 minutes read

Disease-causing mutation edited out of human embryos

by Charlotte Spicer

Scientists have published their study confirming they are the first to correct a disease-causing mutation in human embryos using genome editing...

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.
CC BY 4.0
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 sequencing output from an automated DNA sequencing machine.
News
4 April 2017 • 2 minutes read

University of California win CRISPR patent battle in Europe

by Jen Willows

The European Patent Office has declared that it intends to grant a broad patent for the use of CRISPR technologies to the University of California, the University of Vienna and Dr Emmanuelle Charpentier of the Max-Planck Institute in Berlin...

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.
CC BY 4.0
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 sequencing output from an automated DNA sequencing machine.
News
14 September 2016 • 3 minutes read

Stem cell scientists issue new guidelines to cover embryo editing

by Anneesa Amjad

An international body representing stem cell scientists has included human genome editing in its updated guidance on the manipulation of stem cells and their use in therapy...

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.
CC BY 4.0
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 sequencing output from an automated DNA sequencing machine.
News
14 September 2016 • 2 minutes read

Most Americans worried about genome editing, survey finds

by Anneesa Amjad

A survey has found that a majority of adults in the USA are worried about the potential use of genome-editing technologies to give children a reduced risk of disease...

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.
CC BY 4.0
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 sequencing output from an automated DNA sequencing machine.
News
12 April 2016 • 3 minutes read

Second Chinese team create genetically modified human embryos

by Ayala Ochert

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...

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.
CC BY 4.0
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 sequencing output from an automated DNA sequencing machine.
News
1 February 2016 • 3 minutes read

HFEA grants permission to genetically edit human embryos

by Ayala Ochert

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has granted the first licence to a UK researcher to edit the genomes of human embryos...

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.
CC BY 4.0
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 sequencing output from an automated DNA sequencing machine.
News
24 April 2015 • 3 minutes read

Chinese scientists edit genes of human embryos

by Ayala Ochert

Chinese scientists report the first-ever genetic modification of human embryos using the CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technique, confirming rumours that these highly controversial experiments were underway...

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

« Liquorice could lower female fertility

Data-Label The UK's Leading Supplier Of Medical Labels & Asset Labels

RetiringDentist.co.uk The UK's Leading M&A Company.

Find out how you can advertise here
easyfundraising
amazon

This month in BioNews

  • Popular
  • Recent
8 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Placenta and organ formation observed in mouse embryo models

8 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Lower hormone doses may improve IVF egg quality

8 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Boosting muscle cell production of gene therapy proteins

1 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

First UK medical guidelines issued for trans fertility preservation

1 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Male age has more impact on IVF birth rate than previously thought

15 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Call to end ban on HIV-positive partner gamete 'donation'

15 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Melanoma invades new tissues using nerve cell gene

15 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Exceeding alcohol limits could damage DNA and accelerate ageing

15 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Blood cell gene mutations affect mitochondria, increasing cardiovascular disease risk

15 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Jumping gene helps immune system fight viruses

Subscribe to BioNews and other PET updates for free.

Subscribe
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • RSS
Wellcome
Website redevelopment supported by Wellcome.

Website by Impact Media Impact Media

  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements

© 1992 - 2022 Progress Educational Trust. All rights reserved.

Limited company registered in England and Wales no 07405980 • Registered charity no 1139856

Subscribe to BioNews and other PET updates for free.

Subscribe
PET PET

PET is an independent charity that improves choices for people affected by infertility and genetic conditions.

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • RSS
Wellcome
Website redevelopment supported by Wellcome.

Navigation

  • About Us
  • Get Involved
  • Donate
  • BioNews
  • Events
  • Engagement
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us

BioNews

  • News
  • Comment
  • Reviews
  • Elsewhere
  • Topics
  • Glossary
  • Newsletters

Other

  • My Account
  • Subscribe

Website by Impact Media Impact Media

  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements

© 1992 - 2022 Progress Educational Trust. All rights reserved.

Limited company registered in England and Wales no 07405980 • Registered charity no 1139856