Genetic engineering is moving from the lab bench into clinics, farms, and even family planning decisions, promising to change ...

Nature has spent millennia honing the virus into a ruthlessly efficient delivery vehicle for nucleic acids. Viruses have even been harnessed for our own delivery purposes. But some applications have ...

Bacteria possess unique traits with great potential for benefiting society. However, current genetic engineering methods to harness these advantages are limited to a small fraction of bacterial ...

NEW GENETIC technologies are exhilarating and terrifying. Society might overcome diseases by tweaking individual genomes or selecting specific embryos to avoid health problems. But it may also give ...

Higher yields, greater resilience to climatic changes or diseases—the demands on crop plants are constantly growing. To address these challenges, researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) ...

Genes influence health and disease, traits and behavior. With new tools available to edit those genes, scientists are now working towards things that once seemed impossible: creating immunity to ...

In an unprecedented leap in scientific discovery, a new lifeform has been constructed using a mere 57 genetic instructions. This remarkable feat paves the way for boundless opportunities in biology, ...

Modified CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing scissors are enabling researchers to make alterations to the genetic material of single-cell organisms that are indistinguishable from natural mutations. This method ...

For two decades, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, which advises the Pope on scientific issues, has made wise observations about the importance of molecular techniques for genetic modification and ...

Recent advances in reproductive technologies and genetic screening hold tremendous promise for the elimination of harmful inherited diseases, but they also may pose significant national security ...