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Wellcome Trust – Genomics research resources

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Russian biologist plans more CRISPR-edited babies

BY DAVID SYRANOSKI NATURE A Russian scientist says he is planning to produce gene-edited babies, an act that would make him only the second person known to have done this. It would also fly in the face of the scientific consensus that such experiments should be banned until an international ethical framework has agreed on the circumstances and safety measures that would justify them.

The Great White Shark Genome Is Here

BY MEGAN MOLTENI WIRED Is there any more daunting animal to study than the great white shark? Just you try attaching a radio transmitter or drawing a tube of blood from a six-ton, razor-toothed, meat-seeking missile.

genomic privacy

Cops Now Using Warrants To Gain Access To DNA Services’ Entire Databases

BY TIM CUSHING TECHDIRT Cops have discovered a new source of useful third-party records: DNA databases. Millions of people have voluntarily handed over personal information to a number of services in exchange for info on medical markers or distant family members.

The DNA database used to find the Golden State Killer is a national security leak waiting to happen

BY ANTONIO REGALADO MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW A private DNA ancestry database that’s been used by police to catch criminals is a security risk from which a nation-state could steal DNA data on a million Americans, according to security researchers. Security flaws in the service, called GEDmatch, not only risk exposing people’s genetic health information but could let an adversary such as China or Russia create a powerful biometric database useful for identifying nearly any American from a DNA sample.

professional regulation

There Still Aren’t Any Rules Preventing Rogue Scientists From Making Gene-Edited Babies

EMILY MULLIN MEDIUM / ONE-ZERO Around this time last November, Chinese scientist He Jiankui stunned the world when he revealed the birth of the first known gene-edited babies. Working in relative secrecy, he had used CRISPR to modify human embryos in the lab and then established pregnancies with those embryos.

Genetically modified mosquitoes breed in Brazil

BY FABIAN SCHMIDT DW.COM SCIENCE An attempt to contain the populations of the yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti in Brazil may have failed. It appears that gene mutations have been transferred to the local population.

emerging technologies

This microbe no longer needs to eat food to grow, thanks to a bit of genetic engineering

BY ROBERT F SERVICE SCIENCE MAGAZINE Synthetic biologists have performed a biochemical switcheroo. They’ve re-engineered a bacterium that normally eats a diet of simple sugars into one that builds its cells by absorbing carbon dioxide (CO2), much like plants.

The world’s first Gattaca baby tests are finally here

BY ANTONIO REGALADO MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW Anxious couples are approaching fertility doctors in the US with requests for a hotly debated new genetic test being called “23andMe, but on embryos.” The baby-picking test is being offered by a New Jersey startup company, Genomic Prediction, whose plans we first reported on two years ago. The company says it can use DNA measurements to predict which embryos from an IVF procedure are least likely to end up with any of 11 different common diseases. In the next few weeks it's set to release case studies on its first clients. Handed report cards on a batch of frozen embryos, parents can use the test results to try to choose the healthiest ones.

gene patents

Like air and water, DNA should not be patentable

BY ANDRÉ PICARD THE GLOBE AND MAIL ‘Gene patents no longer need to stand in the way of diagnosing life-threatening disease.” That’s how Alex Munter, president and chief executive officer of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, summed up the impact of an out-of-court settlement in the lawsuit CHEO launched against Transgenomic Inc. in 2014. Transgenomic, a biotechnology company based in Omaha, Neb., owns five gene patents related to the potentially deadly heart condition Long QT syndrome.

Genes can’t be patented, rules Australia’s High Court

BY MICHAEL SLEZAK NEWSCIENTIST Your genes are no longer patentable in Australia. The country’s highest court found unanimously that two previous Australian judgments allowing patents of genes were wrong, and they do not constitute a patentable invention.