Genetic Engineering
In OneZero. More on Medium.
The EPA has given permission to test a controversial pest control method — using engineered mosquitoes to reduce the population of wild ones
Genetically engineered mosquitoes could be released in the United States later this year, after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it approved field tests for them in southern Florida.
On Friday, the EPA said it had granted Oxitec, a British company that specializes in genetically engineered insects, a permit to experiment with using modified mosquitoes to prevent the spread of the Zika virus and dengue fever. The company still needs to get state and local approval; if it does, the trials will start this summer in Monroe County, home of the Florida Keys. Field tests were also approved for Harris…
It’s a key first step toward using pigs to solve the world’s donor organ shortage
In a pathogen-free facility in Grafton, Massachusetts, a small town about 40 miles west of Boston, genetically engineered miniature pigs are being bred to donate their skin to humans.
Their skin, which looks remarkably similar to the human variety and is referred to as Xeno-Skin, will be transplanted by surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital to a small group of burn victims in an attempt to speed up the healing process. It’s the first experiment approved by the U.S. …
A scientist claims he used CRISPR to create gene-edited twins
On November 25, He Jiankui, a scientist at Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, China announced, via YouTube, that he had created the world’s first genetically engineered babies. He said twin girls, Lulu and Nana, had been born via in vitro fertilization. The embryos used to create the twins were altered with a genetic editing tool known as CRISPR. He said the goal was to make it harder for HIV to invade and infect their white blood cells by creating a genetic message associated with enhanced resistance to acquiring AIDS. The girls, he claims, needed this protection since…
Synthetic biology doesn’t have to be scary. And it might even save us.
Perhaps you’ve heard tales from the Dark Side of genetic engineering. Let me guess: evil scientists tinkering with genetics for nefarious purposes, mutant slime escaping the lab, maybe even a zombie outbreak or two. Genetic engineering has certainly garnered a risky reputation. And there indeed exist real scenarios where it has gone awry: The string of lawsuits following agricultural giant Monsanto has made headlines over the years, while the scandal surrounding the genetically edited babies born in China last November is still quite fresh.
But that isn’t the whole story.
