CGS in the News

US startup charging couples to ‘screen embryos for IQ’

By Hannah Devlin, Tom Burgis, David Pegg, and Jason Wilson, The Guardian [cites CGS’ Katie Hasson] | 10.18.2024

A US startup company is offering to help wealthy couples screen their embryos for IQ using controversial technology that raises questions about the ethics of genetic enhancement.

The company, Heliospect Genomics, has worked with more than a dozen couples undergoing...

Genetic Selection

South Africa amended its research guidelines to allow for heritable human genome editing

By Françoise Baylis and Katie Hasson, The Conversation | 10.24.2024

A little-noticed change to South Africa’s national health research guidelines, published in May of this year, has put the country on an ethical precipice. The newly added language appears to position the country as the first to explicitly permit...

Policies

What Do You Risk With At-Home DNA Test Kits?

By Ashleigh Wyss [cites CGS' Katie Hasson], Listnr | 10.09.2024

Discovering your genetic history can be as simple as spitting into a test tube, but what happens when your data...

Society

Close up of a hand holding a test tube and inserting a pipette into the tube.

Ancestry wants your spit, your DNA and your trust. Should you give them all three?

By Stuart Leavenworth, McClatchy DC Bureau [Cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 05.29.2018

It markets its DNA kits with promises that tug at the heartstrings: Discover ancestors. Strengthen family ties. Understand your life...

Genomics

This fertility doctor is pushing the boundaries of human reproduction, with little regulation

By Ariana Eunjung Cha, The Washington Post [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 05.14.2018

NEW YORK — When future historians look back on the 21st century, one of the most iconic photos may be...

Assisted Reproduction

New genetic sleuthing tools helped track down the Golden State Killer suspect

By Tina Hesman Saey, Science News [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 04.29.2018

Using DNA to find a killer sounds easy: Upload some DNA to a database, get a match and — bingo...

Genomics

Burnt orange background with a shadow of two children holding hands. There is a boy on the left and a girl with pigtails on the right.

Parenting of the future: Many embryos, each with DNA profile

By Malcolm Ritter, AP [Cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 04.18.2018

So you want to have a baby.

Would you like a dark-haired girl with a high risk of someday getting...

Eugenics

Black, purple, and blue galaxy in the back with a mirrored image of a young girl looking at each other.

We’re Getting Closer to Cloning Humans. Here’s What’s Stopping Us.

By Claudia Geib, Futurism [cites CGS] | 04.16.2018

If sci-fi writers of the past somehow visited us today, they might wonder: where are all the clones?

As recently...

Society

A small, pink ceramic piggy bank is nestled in the middle of a woven basket full of golden eggs.

The Business of Making a Baby

By Lindsey J. Smith, San Francisco Magazine [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 03.23.2018

After spending her 20s as an aid worker in Africa and India, Helena moved to the Bay Area in 2012...

Assisted Reproduction

University Hospitals building in Cleveland, Ohio

Fertility clinic failures raise question of regulation in industry

By Ginger Christ, The Plain Dealer [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 03.21.2018

CLEVELAND, Ohio - After two recent failures of cryotanks storing eggs and embryos, a number of agencies and organizations are...

Assisted Reproduction

No Self-Editing: Biohacker Josiah Zayner Can’t Stop Living Out Loud

By Alex Lash, Xconomy [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 03.13.2018

Gene editing has arrived. Of the various forms of the technology, CRISPR-Cas9 is the easiest to use, and it’s already...

Synthetic Biology