A new nonprofit hopes to make gene therapy development for rare diseases faster by creating treatments that function as “routine procedures,” in contrast to current development and approval pathways, which frame each gene therapy for a rare disease as a new drug.

‘Too Rare to Care’? A New Center for Rare Diseases Hopes to Change That

A new nonprofit wants to streamline gene therapy for diseases often avoided by pharmaceutical companies — making treatment more like a routine procedure than a bespoke drug.

nytimes.com

A panel on health journalism focused on reporters’ and editors’ responsibility to recognize and push back on contemporary resurgences of eugenics in political narratives and policy proposals.

‘We’re in bold times’: Resurgence of eugenics-coded health policies, products in US

Experts at HJ26 said journalists have a responsibility to identify and push back on policies and actions that contribute to a “resurgence” of eugenics.

healthjournalism.org

Researchers have identified a genetic mutation underlying diffuse midline glioma, an aggressive brain tumor that most commonly affects children and adolescents. Experiments targeting the mutation’s effects seem to slow the disease. www.nytimes.com/2026...

As midterm elections approach, Senate Democrats are reviving efforts to expand access to IVF – and draw attention to Donald Trump’s unfulfilled campaign promise to make IVF free.

Senate Democrats revive IVF as midterm issue highlighting Trump failures

Democrats hope to remind voters of President Donald Trump’s unfulfilled campaign promise to fund in vitro fertilization treatments.

ms.now

Australian couples often go abroad for compensated surrogacy arrangements, which are banned in Australia. Overseas arrangements are legally and logistically complicated, expensive, and risky, which has motivated the Australian government to consider legal reform.

A friend, Facebook or ... Ukraine? No easy surrogacy options for Australian families desperate for children

With huge amounts of money at stake and power imbalances in play, the Australian Law Reform Commission is looking at how to better regulate the industry

theguardian.com

Crispr co-inventor Jennifer Doudna is pivoting to AI-based protein design. In newly published research, Doudna’s team tests the use of AI-created proteins in genome editing.

Nobel Laureate Jennifer Doudna enters AI protein design arena

Jennifer Doudna, Ph.D., the Nobel Laureate best known for co-inventing the CRISPR system that has become the foundation for gene editing, is dipping her toes into a new, buzzy field:

fiercebiotech.com

Researchers’ creation of what they say in a preprint is the first “synthetic cell” could mark a significant advance in synthetic biology. The research has spurred debate about whether these cells are “alive” and about ethical risks with this line of research. www.statnews.com/2026/07/01/s...

Synthetic biology researchers think they’ve made a cell. Is it alive?

Researchers have created what they say may count as the first synthetic cell, and have started a public benefit corporation to share the technology with

statnews.com

Europeans are increasingly pursuing surrogacy arrangements in Mexico, where the practice is relatively affordable but also unregulated.

A top German official, Jens Spahn, abruptly resigned after facing public pressure for having a child via surrogacy in the U.S. The practice is banned in Germany, and Spahn had previously defended the ban. The controversy has reignited debate over surrogacy in Germany. www.nytimes.com/2026...

Predictive genomic tools have been trained primarily on the DNA of people of European descent, which makes them ineffective at predicting risks for other groups.

A Health and Human Services funding notice describes IVF embryos as “children,” demonstrating a concerning shift in federal policy toward embryonic personhood.

Researchers used reproductive hormones to stimulate the growth of immature eggs from sheep. Once matured, the eggs were fertilized by IVF and five lambs were born, which appear healthy so far.

Media coverage of a recent preprint on base editing of embryos, along with the researchers’ decision to release their study as a preprint, risk making gene editing seem inevitable and safer than it actually is.

Using base editing, researchers identified a gene that is responsible for initiating the process of embryo development. 1/2

Genomics research now shows that varied factors influence the felt effects of genetic mutations, and that these effects are often milder than we might think.

Commenting on Palantir's involvement in the NIH's "All of Us" initiative, CGS' Katie Hasson said, “[It] is concerning to have one company that has such a large role in [handling] so many different kinds of data...

The Stanford student journalist who uncovered a research misconduct scandal that led to the university president's resignation is back to share the whole tale of big tech money, neo-eugenics, and AI hype in Silicon Valley.

The genome is not a linear, unchanging instruction manual. It’s dynamic – responding not only to environment and context, but also a variety of regulation mechanisms in the genome itself.

Why the Human Genome’s Tangled Physicality May Confound AI | Quanta Magazine

Our genetic heritage is not a blueprint or an algorithm, as many biologists have imagined, but something else entirely.

quantamagazine.org

Preserved fetus and infant remains held by museums reflect one impact of eugenic thinking. Those deemed “unfit,” along with their children, were seen as expendable and were often acquired into medical collections without consent.

Medical museums often display infant remains – how they were acquired was frequently harrowing and involved eugenic thinking

The inequality, stigma and eugenic thinking that led to their acquisition is often obscured or erased.

theconversation.com

Safety concerns form the basis of most laws banning heritable genome editing, but ethical concerns also provide robust reasons to ban the technique.

A new report from the UK's Progress Educational Trust explores public attitudes about fertility treatment, embryo research, genome editing, donor conception, and surrogacy in the UK, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy.

Three new books take up philosophical questions about disability that reemerge in light of new versions of old eugenic ableism: “Why can we only conceive of certain lives as problems to be remedied? Why, in short, does disability remain synonymous with deficit?”

Good Lives

What the denigration of disability tells us about human flourishing.

bostonreview.net

Researchers created synthetic cells that feed, grow, reproduce and compete with one another for food. It’s the first time synthetic cells have been able to perform several functions.

Regulation is needed to prevent wealthy men from using fertility technologies to have large numbers of “bespoke” children. Addressing underlying wealth inequality is also crucial to reining in those who think they can make the world in their “genetic image.”

Disagreements about the risks and benefits of anthropomorphizing large language models and of the prospect of artificial general intelligence persist in companies working on these technologies.

The NIH’s All of Us program, initiated in 2018, has released the world’s largest database of human genomes and clinical data to investigate causes and treatments of disease. Most participants in the database are from groups overlooked in medical research. www.nytimes.com/2026...

Most of the FDA’s new peptide panelists are involved with businesses that promote and prescribe unproven peptides and stem cell treatments. Policy experts warn that their influence on rule changes that could benefit their business ventures raise clear conflict of interest concerns.

The High Court of England and Wales has outlined criteria for judges issuing parental orders in international surrogacy cases.

“Buffer genes” play an important intermediary role between genetics and environment. They can mask the effects of genetic mutations, but when they are less active or absent, especially in instances of environmental stress, genetic mutations may be expressed. 1/2

A study on LGBTQ+ experiences of fertility treatment in the UK underscored the additional barriers that LGBTQ+ people experience in the industry. Policy reform is needed to address gaps between legal access and equitable access.