October 5, 2017
(Undark) – We now know that the Holmes opinion was both cruel and false — and is contradicted by a historic marker in Charlottesville, Virginia that has nothing to do with the Civil War, or the soldier-on-horseback monuments that have … Read More
October 3, 2017
(The Atlantic) – Every day brings fresh reminders that liberal and illiberal democracy can entwine uncomfortably, a timely context for James Q. Whitman’s Hitler’s American Model, which examines how the Third Reich found sustenance for its race-based initiatives in American … Read More
October 3, 2017
(Nature) – A team in China has taken a new approach to fixing disease genes in human embryos. The researchers created cloned embryos with a genetic mutation for a potentially fatal blood disorder, and then precisely corrected the DNA to … Read More
October 2, 2017
(The Guardian) – Researchers in China have used a procedure described as “chemical surgery” to mend harmful mutations in human embryos for the first time. The scientists found that it was possible to repair a faulty gene that gives rise … Read More
September 29, 2017
(BBC) – Precise “chemical surgery” has been performed on human embryos to remove disease in a world first, Chinese researchers have told the BBC. The team at Sun Yat-sen University used a technique called base editing to correct a single … Read More
September 29, 2017
(Smithsonian) – Public health policies–like immigration policies–were colored by eugenics. It was common for privileged elites to look down on workers and the poor as inferior categories of human being, whose natural degeneracy predisposed them to disease and deformity. It … Read More
September 25, 2017
(ABC News) – Kuhns went to her home in rural central Ohio that day and cried for hours. But Oliver, her 2-year-old son with Down syndrome, ultimately has led “a pretty normal life.” That’s why Kuhns is fighting for an … Read More
September 22, 2017
(Australian Broadcasting Co) – Scientists are pushing to overhaul human cloning laws in Australia so they can use DNA from three different people to create a baby when there is a risk of the child inheriting the debilitating and potentially … Read More
September 20, 2017
(Nature) – Gene-edited human embryos have offered a glimpse into the earliest stages of development, while hinting at the role of a pivotal protein that guides embryo growth. The first-of-its-kind study stands in contrast to previous research that attempted to … Read More
September 20, 2017
(Nature) – These studies are valuable on several counts. They provide important insights into the biology of human embryos, and the possible mechanisms of genome editing in this context. They also highlight technical and ethical issues that inform researchers, funders, … Read More
September 20, 2017
(New Scientist) – Human embryos have been genetically edited in the UK for the first time, using a technique called CRISPR. But why do researchers think this is so important? The UK team, led by Kathy Niakan of the Francis … Read More
September 11, 2017
(USA Today) – The recent news that scientists have successfully edited a human embryo to fix a potentially lethal heart defect is an exciting medical and biotechnological advance. However, the cases for and against human embryo editing are both full of hype. … Read More
September 1, 2017
(The Washington Post) – Needing a lifesaving transplant is truly awful for any child and family. For children with a disability, the challenges are even more immense. Lief has autism and is a non-speaking person who types to communicate. He … Read More
August 31, 2017
(UPI) – Researchers at the National Institutes of Health recommend extending noninvasive prenatal testing to all 24 human chromosomes to detect genetic disorders. The standard method of genomic testing performed during pregnancy targets extra copies of chromosomes 21, 18 and … Read More
August 29, 2017
(Science Daily) – In 2010, there was an estimated total of 1,386 annual births with Down syndrome across the nine states, corresponding to 1 in 824 live births. Live birth prevalence ranged from 1 in 729 in Florida to 1 … Read More
August 28, 2017
(Washington Post) – Gene editing made great strides this month when scientists reported success using a technique called CRISPR — Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats — to correct a serious, disease-causing mutation in human embryos. Researchers fixed a mutation … Read More
August 28, 2017
(Denver Post) – The report showed that since screening tests were introduced in Iceland, nearly 100 percent of pregnant women who receive a positive test for Down syndrome terminate their pregnancies. The pro-life versus pro-choice debate is an important one … Read More
August 25, 2017
(Bloomberg) – If you could directly alter your kids’ genetic profile, what would you want? It’s hard to know how the social debate would turn out after years of back and forth, but I was dismayed to read one recent … Read More
August 23, 2017
(The Conversation) – The first “test-tube baby” made headlines around the world in 1978, setting off intense debate on the ethics of researching human embryos and reproductive technologies. Every breakthrough since then has raised the same questions about “designer babies” … Read More
August 21, 2017
(Quartz) – Here’s the interesting thing: Down syndrome, or Trisomy 21 as it is also called, is actually one of the less severe chromosomal conditions. Unlike many other trisomies (genetic conditions in which a person has three copies of a … Read More
August 18, 2017
(NPR) – Human eggs are the key starting point for the groundbreaking experiments underway in this lab. It’s run by Shoukhrat Mitalipov, a biologist who’s been on the cutting edge of embryonic genetic research for decades. Mitalipov and his international … Read More
August 16, 2017
(STAT News) – But instead of rejecting members who get contrary results, Donovan said, the conversations are “overwhelmingly” focused on helping the person to rethink the validity of the genetic test. And some of those critiques — while emerging from … Read More
August 16, 2017
(Nature) – Early experiments are beginning to show how genome-editing technologies such as CRISPR might one day fix disease-causing mutations before embryos are implanted. But refining the techniques and getting regulatory approval will take years. PGD has already helped thousands … Read More
August 15, 2017
(CBS News) – With the rise of prenatal screening tests across Europe and the United States, the number of babies born with Down syndrome has significantly decreased, but few countries have come as close to eradicating Down syndrome births as … Read More
August 11, 2017
(NPR) – People generally think that editing human genes might be OK, but most think that there’s a clear line that shouldn’t be crossed when it comes to changing traits that would be passed down to new generations, according to … Read More
