Chinese Scientist Genetically Modify Embryo for First Time

     Modifying human DNA in any form has been a large ethical debate in and out of the science community, but for the first time in human history a human embryo was modified just a few months ago by Chinese scientists. The embryos used were destined to be underdeveloped or  abnormal later in life, 86 of which had a faulty gene that causes beta-thalassaemia. With these experiments only a small portion of the embryos were deemed a success, meaning they were "cured" of their genetic disease. For this reason, the research team halted their trial calling the process "too immature."

     Given the controversial results, the ethical debate has re-sparked over the benefits of genetic modification against the use of live embryos. Its not debatable that this research has extreme potential down the road, but there's still the embryos that are lost along the way. Despite the intense debate, scientist at the Francis Crick Institute in London have put in their request to the government to perform their own tests on embryos.

     The researchers at London hope to perform basic studies on embryos that will not be born. One of their main goals is to figure out any correlations between early genetic development of the embryo and miscarriage. The original article about the Chinese scientists can be found here, the newest article about the UK researchers is here.