The Center for Genetics and Society brings social justice and human rights to the center of public and policy discussions about human genetics and assisted reproduction.

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UK Researchers Announce Eight Babies Born Through Three-Person IVF, but Questions Remain

By Katie Hasson | 07.23.2025
Biopolitical Times

"Golden mitochondria" by National Institutes of Health
(NIH) is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Last week, researchers at the UK’s Newcastle Fertility Centre published the findings of their years-long experiment with “mitochondrial donation” techniques, also known as three-person IVF. In two papers published in the New England Journal of Medicine, they reported on eight children born from the technique. The children range in age from five months to over two years old. One pregnancy is ongoing. While...

Assisted Reproduction

Center for Genetics and Society Receives Major Grant for “Confronting Eugenics to Build a Just Future”

By Center for Genetics and Society | 07.03.2025
Press Statement

The Center for Genetics and Society, a project of the Tides Center, has been awarded $751,000 by the Mellon Foundation to support activities that establish a more complete understanding of the histories and legacies of eugenics. This generous grant will...

The tech billionaires and rogue scientists moving to commercialize CRISPR babies

By Marcy Darnovsky | 06.26.2025
Biopolitical Times

Since the “CRISPR babies” scandal in 2018, no additional genetically modified babies are known to have been born. Now several...

Genetic Selection

Can doctors test embryos for autism? And should they?

By Brittany Luse, Liam McBain, and Neena Pathak, NPR [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 05.28.2025

Aggregated News

A newly available kind of genetic testing, called polygenic embryo screening, promises to screen for conditions that can include cancer...

Genetic Selection

Biopolitical Times

UK Researchers Announce Eight Babies Born Through Three-Person IVF, but Questions Remain

By Katie Hasson | 07.23.2025

"Golden mitochondria" by National Institutes of Health
(NIH) is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Last week, researchers at...

Assisted Reproduction

How to Make Cloning Pay

By Pete Shanks | 07.23.2025

Mike Pennington / Dolly the sheep, National
Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh / CC BY-SA 2.0

The first mammal cloned from an...

A "Post-Human" Future?

The tech billionaires and rogue scientists moving to commercialize CRISPR babies

By Marcy Darnovsky | 06.26.2025

Since the “CRISPR babies” scandal in 2018, no additional genetically modified babies are known to have been born. Now several...

Genetic Selection

News

The Ethics of Innovation: Disability, Technology, and Reproductive Justice – with Katie Hasson

By Keith Casebonne and Jodi Beckstine [with CGS' Katie Hasson], Disability Deep Dive | 07.24.2025

In this episode of Disability Deep Dive, hosts Keith and Jodi explore the complex interplay between disability science, technology, and ethics with guest Katie Hasson, Associate Director at the Center for Genetics and Society. The conversation delves into...

U.S. Federal

Sarepta, bowing to FDA pressure, pauses shipments of Duchenne gene therapy Elevidys

By Angus Liu, Fierce Pharma | 07.22.2025

A brief skirmish between Sarepta Therapeutics and the FDA has ended before escalating into a full-on regulatory clash, as the company has bowed to the agency’s demand.

In a surprising reversal, Sarepta on Monday said it will pause all shipments...

U.S. Federal

5 questions on Sarepta, the FDA and a Duchenne gene therapy crisis

By Ben Fidler and Ned Pagliarulo, Biopharma Dive | 07.21.2025

One month ago, a 51-year-old man treated in a clinical trial with an experimental gene therapy became dangerously sick. The developer of that treatment, Sarepta Therapeutics, informed the Food and Drug Administration his case could be life-threatening. 

The man died...

Policies

A brief history of “three-parent babies”

By Jessica Hamzelou, MIT Technology Review | 07.18.2025

This week we heard that eight babies have been born in the UK following an experimental form of IVF that involves DNA from three people. The approach was used to prevent women with genetic mutations from passing mitochondrial diseases to...

Assisted Reproduction

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