"Human gene-editing research, even on embryos, is needed and should go ahead"

Scientists from around the world convened a global summit earlier this week about the ethics and use of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system. What is CRISPR you say? Well, check out this Youtube video if you'd like to learn more about the method.

At the summit, scientists essentially gave the "green light" to the use of the CRISPR-Cas9 system, but said that "moral, ethical and safety concerns would make it 'irresponsible' to proceed with clinical studies in germline cells — eggs, sperm, embryos and other cells that transmit DNA to future generations..." The summit also decided that "researchers who edit embryos or other germ cells in labs would not be doing germline editing if the resulting embryos are not implanted in the uterus for reproductive purposes...". This means that a new and effecient technique for gene editing is on the way to help scientists understand and fight genetic disease. I can't wait to see what new doors this opens for science! Read the article from ScienceNews to get the full story.