Biopolitical Times

The Center for Genetics and Society blog highlights the latest developments in the social, political, and ethical implications of human biotechnologies, with contributions from staff, fellows, consultants, and guest authors.

book covers of What We Inherit and Original Sin

Reviews of Two Books Wrestling with Genomics

By Pete Shanks | 08.28.2026

What We Inherit by Sam Trejo and Daphne O. Martschenko; and Original Sin by Kathryn Paige Harden have a great deal in common, with substantial differences in style and emphasis. Both books attempt, in different ways, to show the reader just where current research into human genomics stands, where that might be going, and why the authors are interested. In short, the influence of genomic research on our societies is already large and seems likely to change them in ways...

Human Genetic Modification

Gene therapy trial characterised by hype and hubris ends in a child's death

By Claire Robinson and Jonathan Matthews, Guest Contributors | 08.25.2026

Biopolitical Times

This is an excerpt of an article originally published on August 1, 2026 at GMWatch.

A six-year-old girl has died in a gene editing gene therapy trial in China that went wrong, the journal Science reports. Seven days after the girl's medical team infused trillions of viruses carrying the recipe for the gene editing tool – in this case a base editor – into her spinal fluid, she died of a severe immune reaction linked to the therapy.

Just...

U.S. Federal

Taking a closer look at recent reporting on gene-edited embryos

By Katie Hasson | 07.11.2026

Media coverage of recent developments in embryo gene editing might seem to suggest that gene-edited babies are close to becoming a reality. As tech billionaires eager to profit off of techno-eugenics invest in “designer baby” technologies, attempts to normalize heritable...

Genomics

‘I didn’t come here to get rich’: new research on the lives of Ukrainian women in Georgia’s surrogacy boom

By Olga Oleinikova, Medea Badashvili, and Polina Vlasenko, Guest Contributors | 04.23.2026

“I didn’t come here to get rich. I came because I had no other way to keep my son safe and care for my displaced family”.

Anna is a 28-year-old woman from eastern Ukraine. She fled the country in 2023...

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Biopolitical Times

Reviews of Two Books Wrestling with Genomics

Gene therapy trial characterised by hype and hubris ends in a child's death

Taking a closer look at recent reporting on gene-edited embryos

‘I didn’t come here to get rich’: new research on the lives of Ukrainian women in Georgia’s surrogacy boom

Silicon Valley’s race to produce genetically engineered humans

Remembering Disability Justice Warrior Alice Wong

In Memoriam: James Watson, 1928–2025

Experimental Human Cell Division Does Not a Baby Make

Can Trump’s IVF Policies Please His Pronatalist Base?

Chimeras: The Genetic Modification of Nature

Eugenics, from Victorian to Postmodern

GMWatch on De-Extinction, Designer Babies, Gene Drives and More