Articles

Thu, 02/28/2019

The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO) recently requested ideas on fundamental biological research questions and topics poised for major advances, as part of their program to create Integrated Institutes for Cross-Cutting Biology (NSF 19-027). Kenneth A...

Fri, 11/30/2018

In November 2018, Chinese scientist He Jainkui announced the birth of the first genetically tailored humans using the gene editing. 

This announcement has already raised many concerns and questions. On Friday, November 30, 2018 at ...

Fri, 11/30/2018

“The genie is out of the bottle,” says George Church, and he should know. Dr. Church at Harvard Medical School has been a respected keeper of the keys to the miracle, or monster, that is gene editing. It is bio-medicine’s new-found power not just to read the human blueprint, but to rebuild, cell...

Fri, 08/18/2017

To celebrate the anniversary of an arcane federal guideline is a rare event. For an agency to use that moment to invite reflection on modifying policies is even rarer. Last month, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) did just that, with a workshop that marked the 40th anniversary of its...

Thu, 03/16/2017

Prepared statement of Dr. Kenneth A. Oye, Director, Program on Emerging Technologies, Professor, Political Science and Data, Systems and Society, Massachusetts Institute...

Tue, 03/22/2016

This white paper provides responses to questions posed in the October 2015 request for comment on revision of the Coordinated Framework and offers recommendations on long term...

Tue, 03/15/2016

There is a new genetic technology which promises to revolutionise agriculture and transform our influence over the natural world. Research is well underway to create pigs and chickens immune to pandemic influenza, cereals which make their own fertiliser and mosquitoes engineered to wipe out wild...

Mon, 02/15/2016

In the last couple of years, a new genetic technology has taken the world of medical and biological research by storm. It is known as CRISPR and it allows scientists to change the DNA code of any organism precisely, quickly and cheaply. The A's, G's, C's and T's of the genetic code have never...

Mon, 05/18/2015

New potential for “homemade” opiates raises oversight issues. Writing in the journal Nature Chemical Biology, researchers at the University of California at Berkeley have announced a new method that could make it easier to produce drugs such as morphine. The publication has focused...

Mon, 05/18/2015

Kenneth A. Oye, J. Chappell H. Lawson, & Tania Bubela
Nature, 18 May 2015

Writing in the journal Nature Chemical Biology, researchers at the University of California at Berkeley have announced a new method that could make it easier to produce drugs such as morphine. The...