Human Genetic Modification Technology

Designer babies, anti-aging, and bringing back extinct species. Gene editing, or genetic modification, is a type of genetic engineering in which DNA is inserted, deleted, modified or replaced in the genome of a living organism. Unlike early genetic engineering techniques that randomly inserts genetic material into a host genome, genome editing targets the insertions to site specific locations.

The most common method of gene editing is called CRISPR, or Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats. It's a technology that makes use of an enzyme derived from bacteria that can cut through a DNA strand at a specific location, creating an opening where a new segments can be fused in place. The method is cheap, easy to deploy, and has made the possibility of genetically modified human babies in an In vitro fertilization center a reality.