A Gene Editing Breakthrough
By Tom Ashbrook,
NPR On Point [features Marcy Darnovsky]
| 08. 08. 2017
After the blockbuster announcement a U.S. team successfully edited human embryos come the tough medical and ethical questions. We’ll talk it through.
A first in the U.S.: researchers have now edited the genetic code of viable human embryos, cutting and splicing to avoid defect and disease. The DNA of human embryos. Genetically edited. The edited embryos weren’t implanted in a woman. Weren’t born. But they could have been. New life spared disease, maybe death. How far does this gene editing go? How fast? For whom? And for, or against, what human traits? This hour On Point: editing the code of human life. -- Tom Ashbrook
Guests
Amy Dockser Marcus, health and science reporter for the Wall Street Journal. (@AmyDMarcus)
Dr. Paula Amato, co-author of the study showing successful editing of genes in human embryos. Associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Oregon Health & Science University.
Arthur Caplan, professor of bioethics and head of the division of medical ethics at the New York University School of Medicine. (@ArthurCaplan)
Marcy Darnovsky, executive director of...
Related Articles
By Ian Sample, The Guardian | 07.04.2024
Biological models of human embryos that can develop heartbeats, spinal cords and other distinctive features will be governed by a code of practice in Britain to ensure that researchers work on them responsibly.
Made from stem cells, they mimic, to...
By Kevin Davies, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News | 06.27.2024
Physician-scientist Matthew Porteus, MD, PhD, has been a mainstay in the genome editing field for more than two decades. He trained at Stanford University Medical School before completing his residency and hematology/oncology fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital/Dana Farber Cancer Institute...
By Peter Aldhous, Scientific American | 07.02.2024
In June a notice posted on the website of the journal Nature set a new scientific record. It withdrew what is now the most highly cited research paper ever to be retracted.
The study, published in 2002 by Catherine Verfaillie...
By Robert F. Service, Science | 07.04.2024
Image by Ed Uthman from Flickr
Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved two gene therapy procedures that can treat and, in some cases essentially cure sickle cell disease, a genetic blood disorder that causes pain and...