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A global observatory for gene editing

Sheila Jasanoff and J. Benjamin Hurlbut call for an international network of scholars and organizations to support a new kind of conversation.
  1. Sheila Jasanoff

    1. Sheila Jasanoff is professor of science and technology studies at the Harvard Kennedy School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

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  2. J. Benjamin Hurlbut

    1. J. Benjamin Hurlbut is associate professor of biology and society at Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA.

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Illustration by Marina Muun

In August 2017, scientists reported that they had used the gene-editing tool CRISPR–Cas9 to correct a mutation in viable human embryos. The work is just one of countless applications of the technique, with which scientists hope to alter plants, animals and humans.

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Nature 555, 435-437 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-03270-w

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