April 21, 2025
(BBC) – Genetic factors are thought to play a major role in the development of autism – but for decades what they are has proven elusive. Now scientists are starting to uncover clues. But while this can offer huge benefits … Read More
April 18, 2025
(Nature) – Conventional tests that look only at a small subset of genetic code often miss variations hiding outside the protein-coding genome. About 80% of rare diseases are genetic. In their search for disease-causing genetic variants, clinicians regularly refer people … Read More
April 16, 2025
(The New Atlantis) – As with so many other scientific controversies in our political life, public opinion on Covid origins has come to track — and serve as a signifier for — partisan identity. This bodes ill for dispassionate investigation, … Read More
April 15, 2025
(ABC News) – U.S. researchers will soon test whether livers from a gene-edited pig could treat people with sudden liver failure — by temporarily filtering their blood so their own organ can rest and maybe heal. The first-of-its-kind clinical trial … Read More
April 11, 2025
(Associated Press) – An Alabama woman who lived with a pig kidney for a record 130 days had the organ removed after her body began rejecting it and is back on dialysis, doctors announced Friday – a disappointment in the … Read More
April 11, 2025
(Slate) – We shouldn’t be celebrating “de-extinction.” We should be focused on the species that are currently in danger. What we’re really looking at, it seems, are gray wolves modified to be dire wolves of George R.R. Martin’s books rather … Read More
April 9, 2025
(The Conversation) – And 23andMe collected more than just genetic data generated from consumers’ spit. Eighty-five percent of customers consented to 23andMe research, allowing their individual-level data to be used for studies. The company then collected information from survey questions … Read More
April 9, 2025
(MIT Technology Review) – Somewhere in the northern US, drones fly over a 2,000-acre preserve, protected by a nine-foot fence built to zoo standards. It is off-limits to curious visitors, especially those with a passion for epic fantasies or mythical … Read More
April 9, 2025
European Journal of Human Genetics (vol. 33, no. 3, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
April 8, 2025
(Nature) – The 50th anniversary of a landmark biosafety conference is an opportunity to ensure its spirit lives on in today’s scientists. In 2008, Nature published a six-part essay series called Meetings that Changed the World. One of our choices … Read More
April 4, 2025
(BBC) – The US couple, aged 37 and 38, ardently believe that the world needs to have more babies or risk civilisational collapse. They have become the poster children for pronatalism, a movement that believes falling birth rates are a … Read More
April 3, 2025
(New York Times) – Orchid screens embryos’ DNA for hundreds of conditions, such as retinitis pigmentosa, which can be traced to a single genetic variant. But the company also goes further, offering what is known as polygenic screening, which gives … Read More
April 3, 2025
The New England Journal of Medicine (vol. 392, no. 10, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
March 28, 2025
(Undark) – In an era of open data, genome-wide association studies have become entangled with efforts to prove Black inferiority. Shortly after Abdellaoui announced his withdrawal, he learned that Kirkegaard was scratched from the speaker lineup, and Abdellaoui decided to … Read More
March 28, 2025
(MIT Technology Review) – Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: A tech company accumulates a ton of user data, hoping to figure out a business model later. That business model never arrives, the company goes under, and the … Read More
March 27, 2025
(Wall Street Journal) – He Jiankui stands by a controversial research approach that landed him in prison as he aims to tackle Alzheimer’s disease Chinese scientist He Jiankui set off global outrage and landed in prison after he skirted ethical … Read More
March 26, 2025
(NBC News) – Chinese researchers are reporting new steps in the quest for animal-to-human organ transplants — with a successful pig kidney transplant and a hint Wednesday that pig livers might eventually be useful, too. A Chinese patient is the third person in world … Read More
March 26, 2025
(Wall Street Journal) – Anne Wojcicki aims to buy the assets of her failed DNA-testing company after her prior bids were rejected The company she co-founded, 23andMe, has burned through more than $1 billion and laid off more than half … Read More
March 25, 2025
(Axios) – The demise of 23andMe illustrates the vulnerable state of Americans’ health data, as med tech companies vacuum up more personal information with little regulatory oversight. Why it matters: Fitness trackers, wellness apps, genetic tests and other direct-to-consumer tools … Read More
March 21, 2025
(Nature) – The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has expanded its cuts to science funding, terminating a growing list of research projects that now encompasses hundreds of grants funding studies on a wide range of topics — from HIV … Read More
March 18, 2025
(Associated Press) – Sarepta Therapeutics said Tuesday that a patient died while taking its closely watched gene therapy for muscular dystrophy, sending company shares plummeting in morning trading. The young man died of acute liver injury, a known side effect, … Read More
March 13, 2025
(Wired) – The mRNA technology behind coronavirus vaccines is now being used to create bespoke vaccines for cancer patients. Lennard Lee, a UK National Health Service oncologist and medical director at the Ellison Institute of Technology in Oxford, calls himself … Read More
March 12, 2025
(Nature) – Researchers have identified 64 genes that help to shape how quickly a person’s brain ages, in one of the largest attempts to pinpoint genetic factors that influence the organ’s decline. The study, published in Science Advances on 12 … Read More
March 12, 2025
(Nature) – After 150,000 articles and 17 million genome sequences, what has science taught us about SARS-CoV-2? Scientists have also generated more than 17 million SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences so far, more than for any other organism. This has given an … Read More
March 12, 2025
(New York Times) – Some scientists are confident that organs from genetically modified pigs will one day be routinely transplanted into humans. But substantial ethical questions remain. They are delivered by C-section to protect them from viruses that sows can … Read More
