Antonio Regalado
@antonioregalado.bsky.social
Journalist covering biotechnology for MIT Technology Review. Scoops about new methods in genetics and cell biology. The "playing God" beat. Gene editing, gene therapy, ancient DNA, synthetic embryos, cloning, etc.
Have a smarter baby? You might, but it's not necessarily legal to advertise. Our look at the NYC subway ad campaign by IVF embryo profiling company Nucleus and how it collides with anti-discrimination statutes that apply to advertising on public property. www.technologyreview.com/2025/12/05/1...
The ads that sell the sizzle of genetic trait discrimination
A startup’s ads for controversial embryo tests hit the New York City subway.
technologyreview.com
I am preparing MIT Technology Review's infamous list of "worst" technologies of the year. What are 2025's biggest failures, set backs, and misfires but which also hold useful lessons about technology? I think Cybertruck has to be on the list. Tell me your picks in the replies👇!!
A month after Bari Weiss hired to lead CBS News division, heretic eugenics philosopher Jonathan Anomaly is on the morning show pitching bell curves and embryo scores. www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvVM...
I tremendously enjoyed Matthew Cobb’s definitive new biography of Crick. It was hard to put down and provides many new perspectives. My review of it will appear in Science later this week.
A 3rd (?) germline editing co announced @antonioregalado.bsky.social in @technologyreview.com, www.technologyreview.com/2025/10/31/1... I mainly share Fyodor's reaction, quoted in story—"In his email, Urnov said the launch of still another venture into the area made him want to “howl with pain.”
Here’s the latest company planning for gene-edited babies
Entrepreneurs say it’s time to safety-test designer baby technology.
technologyreview.com
The astonishing science of synthetic embryology and our profile of it's most ambitious praticioner, Jacob Hanna www.technologyreview.com/2025/10/21/1...
The astonishing embryo models of Jacob Hanna
Scientists are creating the beginnings of bodies without sperm or eggs. How far should they be allowed to go?
technologyreview.com
Read this item by TB researcher whose grant got cancelled as 'dangerous gain of function.' Ironic, because the administration (RFK), has promoted whole‑virus vaccines, whose development, especially if they are attenuated, probably relies on very similar techniques.
hhs.gov
Here come the first "generative" genomes. Folks at the Arc Institute used an AI trained on DNA sequence to propose code for novel bacteriophage genomes. Of the 302 they synthesized, 16 actually worked--replicating and killing E. Coli. www.technologyreview.com/2025/09/17/1...
AI-designed viruses are here and already killing bacteria
Can AI create a life form? These “generative” genomes are a start
technologyreview.com
Can AI create a life form? These "generative" genomes are a start. New from @antonioregalado.bsky.social www.technologyreview.com/2025/09/17/1...
AI-designed viruses are here and already killing bacteria
Can AI create a life form? These "generative" genomes are a start
technologyreview.com
Can anyone find a Berman MF et al. Neurotoxicology 2008; 29(5), 914–922 ? This is a fake citation. www.sciencedirect.com/journal/neur...
sciencedirect.com
World famous synthetic embryo scientist stopped while entering U.S. Agent: Any embryos in your luggage? Scientist: One sec. [Opens guideline booklet of the International Society for Stem Cell Research.] Scientist: Nope, just 3-D structures derived from pluripotent stem cells.
Coinbase CEO, net worth ~$10B, wants to start definitive embryo editing company in the US. Making a gene-edit baby is prohibited in most of the world. But the winds can change. www.technologyreview.com/2025/06/05/1...
Crypto billionaire Brian Armstrong is ready to invest in CRISPR baby tech
The stigmatized idea could get a massive boost from “tech bros”—and some scientists are cheering them on.
technologyreview.com
OMG. Government "Make America Healthy Again" report has references to non-existent papers, suggesting US medical policy is partly plagiarized AI slop. Calling on author, NIH director @drjbhattacharya.bsky.social to issue correction + investigate AI plagiarism www.notus.org/health-scien...
The MAHA Report Cites Studies That Don’t Exist
The Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” report misinterprets some studies and cites others that don’t exist, according to the listed authors.
notus.org
Japanese company to remove anachronisms from corporate names. What other companies have anachronisms in their names or logos?
Peter Landers@peterjlanders.bsky.social · last yr.About 70 years after people stopped using the telegraph, a Japanese company is removing the word from its name. Also getting rid of “Telephone.” group.ntt/en/newsrelea...
Northwestern has not received any NIH funds since March. No written communication about why or what can be done. Thank you Ben Singer for raising awareness at #ATS2025
Patient was posting from a Musk implant, with the help of Musk's AI, on a Musk media platform and in reply to a Musk fanboy, if not actually the “alt” of the richest person in the world. So it’s fair to ask: Where does patient end and Musk’s ecosystem begin? www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/07/1...
This is pig. I mean big. FDA approves gene-edited pig resistant to common swine virus. more 👇https://www.pig-world.co.uk/news/pic-receives-us-approval-for-gene-edited-prrs-resistant-pigs.html
Let biotechnology bring forth mammoths™ and birds™ and beasts™ of every kind. And it was so.
Colossal Biosciences is trying to win patents on the "Woolly mammoth" and the "dire wolf." www.technologyreview.com/2025/04/16/1...
Jurassic Patent: How Colossal Biosciences is attempting to own the “woolly mammoth”
The company claiming it can restore lost species also wants to patent them.
technologyreview.com
Dream on. As Antonio knows, head transplants were done decades in dogs & monkeys but sad failures. And Sergio Canavero kept promising human ones "by the end of the year" (For a decade?) Anyway (the great) Lois McMaster Bujold (winner of FOUR best novel Hugos) got there decades ago.
Antonio Regalado@antonioregalado.bsky.social · 2y ago12/ The authors of today's bodyoid editorial in MIT Technology Review do not raise the prospect of radical life-extension, but headless clones are of interest to the "immortality community." They dream of head transplants onto younger bodies. www.technologyreview.com/2024/05/23/1...
This paper is the weirdest & most unsettling thing I've ever (co)written. & HUGE science questions—not just ectogenesis, but could a "brainless" animal survive? would it be a good model for a "real" animal? And ethics question, which are much bigger with humans. But I think it needs discussion.
Antonio Regalado@antonioregalado.bsky.social · 2y ago17/ Back to Earth. The authors propose bodyoid research should start now, with lab animals, like rodents. But you can imagine farm animals too. How about a brainless chicken, or pig with minimal neural structure? Would such animals be more ethical to consume?
Imagine human bodies grown without complete brains, without consciousness. These are "bodyoids." And today in MIT Technology Review, researchers from Stanford University are ready to talk about them. www.technologyreview.com/2025/03/25/1...
Ethically sourced “spare” human bodies could revolutionize medicine
Human “bodyoids” could reduce animal testing, improve drug development, and alleviate organ shortages.
technologyreview.com
Email sent to FDA staff informs that agency leadership canceled the agency's LexisNexis subscription, even though staff need this tool to research legal and regulatory information as part of their jobs. I'm reproducing the text of the email here:
For $19.99, couldn't resist this addition to my biotech t-shirt collection.
We looked into the booming field of ancient DNA research, how it's telling stories from pre-history and how some of the old information is being teleported into the present and added to plants in a bid to defeat climate change. www.technologyreview.com/2025/02/17/1...
Adventures in the genetic time machine
Ancient DNA is telling us more and more about humans and environments long past. Could it also help rescue the future?
technologyreview.com
Renee Wegrzyn Founding director of ARPA-H (the DARPA of medical research) is out of a job, and apparently very suddenly.
This 👇is a 🎯 all-in-one H5N1 tracking tool to bookmark & share: H5N1 US Tracker - Ginkgo Biosecurity www.ginkgobiosecurity.com/h5n1-us-trac... H/t @rhonda234567.bsky.social
