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Volume 35 Issue 11, November 2017

Increasingly powerful genetic technologies are moving us closer to the ability to read and manipulate human genomes not only in somatic cells, but also in germ cells and zygotes. In this issue, the 'Humans 2.0' focus looks at how these technologies are impacting embryo research and how this may ultimately affect our lives and offspring. Cover image: Erin Dewalt ©A-Digit/DigitalVision Vectors and Jakarin2521/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Volume 35 Issue 11

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Editorial

  • Of the germline engineering approaches, mitochondrial replacement, rather than gene editing, is poised to have the greatest impact on our lives.

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News Feature

  • As the technology to create genetically modified babies moves closer to practice, what questions should we ask before such procedures are contemplated? Amber Dance investigates.

    • Amber Dance

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  • Mitochondrial replacement therapy is being touted as a means of combating maternally inherited disease. But concerns are growing about mitochondrial reversion compromising cures. Steve Connor investigates.

    • Steve Connor

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  • Finding partners through DNA profiles has yet to catch on, but the commercial sector for preconception and prenatal testing is booming. Malorye Allison Branca reports.

    • Malorye Allison Branca

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Perspective

  • Recent developments in bioengineering promise the possibility of new diagnostic and treatment strategies, novel industrial processes, and innovative approaches to thorny problems in fields such as nutrition, agriculture, and biomanufacturing. As modern genetics has matured and developed technologies of increasing power, debates over risk assessments and proper applications of the technology, and over who should have decision-making power over such issues, have become more prominent. Recently, some scientists have advocated that ethicists “step out of the way,” whereas others have called for greater ethical scrutiny, or even for moratoria on some lines of research1,2. As a community, however, we must together determine the proper application of these powerful biological tools. This paper, a consensus statement of a group of interdisciplinary delegates drawn from the top biotech-producing countries of the world, offers a set of ethical principles to contribute to the ethical conversation about human cellular biotechnological research moving forward.

    • Paul Root Wolpe
    • Karen S Rommelfanger

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