Since the start of the program to investigate the ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) of the Human Genome Project in 1990, many ELSI scholars have maintained that genetic testing should be used with caution because of the potential for negative psychosocial effects associated with recei...

The Hastings Center hosted a special virtual discussion on “New Ethical Questions and 21st Century Genomics” on Thursday, June 4. After the atrocities of Nazi medical experimentation, the Nuremburg Code of the 1940’s established the importance of voluntary, informed consent by research partici...

The Hastings Center is a collaborator on a major new federally funded center – the Center for ELSI Resources and Analysis — that will fill a void in genetics research by collecting and sharing information about its ethical, legal, and social (ELSI) implications. This resource hub, the first ...

Decades of research into the genetics of autism have revealed a complex relationship. Not only is there no single gene for autism, numerous genetic changes can underlie the condition. With this intricate genetic story has come an increasingly nuanced picture of how people with autism and their famil...

Genetics is finally being integrated into the clinic: cancer patients are having their cancer’s genome sequenced, fertility patients are having their embryos tested, and parents are being offered sequencing of their newborn babies.

The new indie movie William explores the question, What would it be like if a Neanderthal were born and raised in a modern, industrialized society today?

Hastings Center president Mildred Z. Solomon and director of research Josephine Johnston were featured speakers at the premiere screening of The Code, a series of three documentaries on the origins of genetic medicine and what its successes and failures mean for the future. The series was produced by...

Hastings Center research scholar Gregory Kaebnick participated in a multidisciplinary workshop at the University of Montana in Missoula on May 25 – 26 to examine the potential for using genome editing to conserve plants and animals that are threatened with extinction. The meeting addressed scie...

Braingenethics Update, a free monthly newsletter, aggregates recent scientific literature, commentary, and news on questions raised by findings on the genetics of complex human behaviors. It is produced by the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and The Hastings Center as part of a...