Chicks atop images from a genetic map of a chicken. (Peggy Greb photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Gene-edited chickens planned in bid to halt next pandemic

London | Reuters — British scientists are developing gene-edited chickens designed to be totally resistant to flu in a new approach to trying to stop the next deadly human pandemic. The first of the transgenic chicks will be hatched later this year at the Roslin Institute at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, said Wendy […] Read more

The grand chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union, in Luxembourg. (Curia.europa.eu)

GMO rules cover plant gene editing technique, top EU court says

Brussels | Reuters — Crops obtained by plant breeding technique mutagenesis should fall under laws restricting the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), Europe’s highest court said on Wednesday, in a victory for environmental campaigners. The biotech industry had argued that much of mutagenesis, or gene editing, is effectively little different to the mutagenesis that […] Read more

Some dairy farmers have been breeding polled genetics into their cattle for years, but editing genes for top genetics at the cellular stage would dramatically move the trait into the population.

Editorial: Dealing with disruptive technology

My family bred polled Holsteins for 30 years, working away in fits and starts carefully crossing the limited number of polled families in the breed. In the last few years of his dairy career, until the cows were sold late last year, my father put greater emphasis on the trait, using mostly polled bulls in […] Read more

(Limagrain.com)

Limagrain says GMO protests could force R+D relocation

Paris | Reuters — Limagrain, the world’s fourth-largest seed maker, will consider moving its research activities out of France if field trials in its home market continue to be sabotaged by opponents of genetically modified crops. The French co-operative group was targeted last month by protestors who invaded test fields southeast of Paris and scattered […] Read more



(Regis Lefebure photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Gene editing could pave way for pig organ transplants

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. researchers have used a new gene editing technique to trim away potentially harmful virus genes that have impeded the use of pig organs for transplants in humans. The study, published in the journal Science, expands on capabilities of the genome editing tool known as CRISPR-Cas9, which works as a type […] Read more