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CRISPR germline engineering—the community speaks

Nature Biotechnology volume 33, pages 478–486 (2015)Cite this article

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Nature Biotechnology asks selected members of the international community to comment on the ethical issues raised by the prospect of CRISPR-Cas9 engineering of the human germline.

With the first papers appearing in the literature that describe CRISPR-Cas9 engineering of human reproductive cells, are we at a new Asilomar moment? In a letter to Science in March entitled “A prudent path forward for genomic engineering and germline gene modification,” 18 signers indicated “A framework for open discourse on the use of CRISPR-Cas9 technology to manipulate the human genome is urgently needed.” They wrote of “unparalleled potential for modifying human and nonhuman genomes,” to cure genetic diseases in humans and to “reshape the biosphere.” But they warned of consequent “unknown risks to human health and well-being.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Editas Medicine, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Katrine S Bosley

  2. Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA

    Michael Botchan

  3. Department of Medical Humanities, University Medical Center, Utrecht, the Netherlands

    Annelien L Bredenoord

  4. Department of Biochemistry, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

    Dana Carroll

  5. and Department of Medical History and Bioethics, School of Law, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine & Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

    R Alta Charo

  6. Department of Regulation in Infection Biology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany

    Emmanuelle Charpentier

  7. Acorda Therapeutics, Ardsley, New York, USA

    Ron Cohen

  8. Innovative Genomics Initiative, Berkeley, California, USA

    Jacob Corn

  9. Department of Molecular & Cell Biology and Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA

    Jennifer Doudna

  10. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Guoping Feng

  11. Stanford Law School, Stanford, California, USA

    Henry T Greely

  12. Department of Human Genetics, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Rosario Isasi

  13. Kunming Biomed International and National Engineering Research Center of Biomedicine and Animal Science, Kunming, China

    Weihzi Ji

  14. Institute for Basic Science and Department of Chemistry, Center for Genome Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea

    Jin-Soo Kim

  15. Department of Human Genetics, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Bartha Knoppers

  16. Sangamo Biosciences, Richmond, California, USA

    Edward Lanphier

  17. Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China

    Jinsong Li

  18. The Francis Crick Institute, London, UK

    Robin Lovell-Badge

  19. Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA

    G Steven Martin

  20. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

    Jonathan Moreno

  21. San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy, Milan, Italy

    Luigi Naldini

  22. Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

    Martin Pera

  23. Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, Bath, UK

    Anthony CF Perry

  24. J. Craig Venter Institute in La Jolla, California, USA.,

    J Craig Venter

  25. Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Feng Zhang

  26. State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Qi Zhou

Authors
  1. Katrine S Bosley
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  2. Michael Botchan
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  3. Annelien L Bredenoord
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  4. Dana Carroll
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  5. R Alta Charo
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  6. Emmanuelle Charpentier
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  7. Ron Cohen
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  8. Jacob Corn
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  9. Jennifer Doudna
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  10. Guoping Feng
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  11. Henry T Greely
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  14. Jin-Soo Kim
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  15. Bartha Knoppers
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  16. Edward Lanphier
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  17. Jinsong Li
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  18. Robin Lovell-Badge
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  19. G Steven Martin
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  20. Jonathan Moreno
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  21. Luigi Naldini
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  22. Martin Pera
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  23. Anthony CF Perry
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  24. J Craig Venter
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  25. Feng Zhang
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  26. Qi Zhou
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Cite this article

Bosley, K., Botchan, M., Bredenoord, A. et al. CRISPR germline engineering—the community speaks. Nat Biotechnol 33, 478–486 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.3227

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.3227

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