Françoise Baylis & Katie Hasson | October 25, 2024

New genome editing technologies mean that the genetic modification of embryos is a scientific possibility, and laws governing its practice require extensive public consultation.

Françoise Baylis & Jocelyn Downie | July 25, 2023

Scientists have created synthetic human embryos. Now we must consider the ethical and moral quandaries.

Françoise Baylis | April 12, 2023

In January 2017, I met Jiankui He, the now-infamous Chinese scientist who would go on to create the world’s first genome-edited babies. This was at a meeting in Berkeley, Calif., hosted by Jennifer Doudna who, along with Emmanuelle Charpentier, was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her work on CRISPR genome-editing technology.

Françoise Baylis | March 22, 2023

In early March, I was in London, England for the Third International Summit on Human Genone Editing. It was a welcome occasion to see friends and colleagues and to advance discussion and debate on research involving somatic, germline, and heritable human genome editing.

Jantina de Vries & Françoise Baylis | July 12, 2021

In July 2021, after more than two years of study and consultation, the WHO’s Expert Advisory Committee on Developing Global Standards for Governance and Oversight of Human Genome Editing released two reports: a framework for governance and recommendations on human genome editing.

Sheetal Soni & Françoise Baylis | June 7, 2021

Five years ago, independent research teams in the U.S. and the U.K. succeeded in cultivating human embryos in the laboratory for 12-to-13 days – longer than ever before. They could have continued their research but didn’t. They stopped because of the broad international consensus that such research should not be permitted beyond 14 days.

Françoise Baylis | January 5, 2020

A month ago, there were countless commentaries on the one-year anniversary of the news that Chinese researcher He Jiankui had created the world’s first genome-edited twins. […] From my perspective, these comments miss the mark insofar as they fail to acknowledge that the birth of three genome-edited babies is not just the work of three scientists.

Françoise Baylis | December 10, 2019

Since the dramatic announcement of the world’s first genome-edited babies using CRISPR technology, there have been no more such announcements. This is due, in no small part, to discreet actions taken by the People’s Republic of China, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Russian Federation.

Natalie Kofler, Françoise Baylis, Graham Dellaire & Landon Getz | October 1, 2019

Every year, around one million people die of mosquito-borne diseases. This is why mosquitoes are considered one of the deadliest living creatures on the planet — not because they are lethal themselves, but because many of the viruses and parasites they transmit are.

Françoise Baylis | September 18, 2019

Françoise Baylis shares a brief excerpt from her book Altered Inheritance: CRISPR and the Ethics of Human Genome Editing.

Françoise Baylis & Marcy Darnovsky | January 17, 2019

Despite the appearance of agreement, scientists are not of the same mind about the ethics and governance of human germline editing. These divergences have significant implications for research practice and policy concerning heritable human genome editing.

Françoise Baylis, Graham Dellaire & Landon Getz | December 10, 2018

Sam Sternberg, a CRISPR/Cas9 researcher at Columbia University, spoke for many when he said “I’ve long suspected that scientists, somewhere, would rush to claim the ‘prize’ of being first to apply CRISPR clinically to edit the DNA of human embryos, and use those embryos to establish pregnancies, but still, I’m shocked to find out it’s allegedly happened this quickly.”

Françoise Baylis | November 26, 2018

Françoise Baylis responds to the recently announced birth of the world’s first genome edited babies and raises concerns about the scientific practice and ethical accountability.

Françoise Baylis | October 24, 2017

A 20th anniversary celebration of the Oviedo Convention begins today, October 24, in Strasbourg, France. In anticipation of this conference, many have been clamouring for changes to Article 13 of the Convention, which prohibits deliberately changing the genes that are passed on to children and future generations (human germline modification).

Françoise Baylis | October 1, 2017

In September, Kathy Niakan at the Francis Crick Institute in London and her colleagues reported they had used CRISPR on human embryos to better understand human development.

Françoise Baylis | August 1, 2017

Shoukhrat Mitalipov, a reproductive biologist at Oregon Health and Science University, is nothing if not a pioneer. Now, in 2017, his team has reported safely and effectively modifying human embryos with the MYBPC3 mutation (which causes myocardial disease) using the gene editing technique CRISPR.