NAS to co-host gene editing meeting in D.C.

The U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the U.K.'s Royal Society and the Chinese Academy of Sciences will host a meeting on Dec. 1-3 in Washington, D.C., to discuss the scientific, ethical and governance issues associated with human gene editing research.

The international summit is one component of the Human Gene-Editing Initiative, which NAS and the National Academy of Medicine launched in May in response to public concerns over the use of CRISPR- Cas9 ( CRISPR-associated protein 9) gene editing to modify human embryos. In April, a group of Chinese researchers published a study characterizing the use of CRISPR/Cas9 in non-viable human embryos (see BioCentury Innovations, June 18). ...