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DNA Gets a New — and Bigger — Genetic Alphabet
By Carl Zimmer, The New York Times | 02. 21. 2019
Reactions to Jail Sentences for "CRISPR Babies" Scientists, and What Comes Next
By Pete Shanks | 01.09.2020
CGS Statement on Prison Term for "CRISPR Babies" Scientist He Jiankui
By CGS Staff | 12.30.2019
CGS Year In Review: The Fight for Genetic Justice in 2019
The Best of Biopolitical Times: 2019 Edition
By CGS | 12.24.2019
Aggregated News
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/science/dna-hachimoji-genetic-alphabet.html
In 1985, the chemist Steven A. Benner sat down with some colleagues and a notebook and sketched out a way to expand the alphabet of DNA. He has been trying to make those sketches real ever since.
On Thursday, Dr. Benner and a team of scientists reported success: in a paper, published in Science, they said they have in effect doubled the genetic alphabet.
Natural DNA is spelled out with four different letters known as bases — A, C, G and T. Dr. Benner and his colleagues have built DNA with eight bases — four natural, and four unnatural. They named their new system Hachimoji DNA (hachi is Japanese for eight, moji for letter).
Crafting the four new bases that don't exist in nature was a chemical tour-de-force. They fit neatly into DNA's double helix, and enzymes can read them as easily as natural bases, in order to make molecules.
"We can do everything here that is necessary for life," said Dr. Benner, now a distinguished fellow at the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution in Florida.
Hachimoji DNA could... see more
Embryo Research To Reduce Need For In Vitro Fertilization Raises Ethical Concerns
By Rob Stein, NPR | 01.15.2020
Researchers have conducted a controversial study that involved paying dozens of young women at a hospital near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to get artificially inseminated so their embryos could be flushed out of their bodies and analyzed for research purposes.
Should We Alter the Human Genome? Let Democracy Decide
By Krishanu Saha, J. Benjamin Hurlbut & Sheila Jasanoff , Scientific American | 01.15.2020
Senators Dianne Feinstein (D–Calif.), Marco Rubio (R–Fla.) and Jack Reed (D–R.I.) have introduced a resolution affirming the importance of heritage genome editing. The resolution is a valuable first step, and we urge the Senate to take it—and then to give this issue the democratic attention it deserves.
Rewriting Our Genes Is Easier Than Ever. That Doesn't Mean We Should Do It.
By Sarah Ruth Bates, WBUR Boston | 01.03.2020
Gene-editing technologies have huge potential to alleviate human suffering. But, like all very powerful technologies, they also carry enormous risks if used improperly.
What Happened to All Those Frozen Eggs?
By Sarah Elizabeth Richards, The New York Times | 12.21.2019
Egg freezing was supposed to be as revolutionary as birth control. It hasn't lived up to the hype — but it has still changed women's lives.
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