UK Scientists Get Green Light to Genetically Edit Human Embryos

Sperm injection into a human oocyte, or immature egg cell. (Credit: Eugene Ermolovich (CRMI)/Wikimedia) Regulators in the United Kingdom on Monday approved a request from scientists to use the emerging CRISPR gene editing tool to perform experiments on human embryos. Researchers from the Francis Crick Institute in London filed a license application in September 2015 with Britain's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to perform gene editing experiments to better understand the genes that help humans develop in their earliest stages of growth. Their request was granted, which marks the first time scientists have received official permission to alter human embryos.