Content on Genetics
Repairing the World With the Innocence Project
The Innocence Project, which has used cutting-edge DNA evidence to overturn wrongful convictions in the criminal justice system, aptly embodies the Jewish principle of “repairing the world.”
CRISPR: Are We Playing God or Are We Playing, God?
What specifically Jewish questions does CRISPR bring up when it’s used in medicine?
The Art of Daily Genetic Tikkun
Just as we work to maintain the daily essentials of our lives – our diet, our occupations, our home, our relationships – so do our bodies. Our organs have an amazing ability to continually repair themselves in the face of the daily onslaught of environmental impacts – daily genetic “tikkun,” or repair. However, this is bittersweetly balanced by how closely linked this process is to aging. The more frequently and intensively our body has to rebuild and replicate itself, the…
The CRISPR Revolution in Science, Religion and Ethics
Sinai and Synapses Fellowship alumnus Arvin Gouw shares quandaries and successes from the frontlines of CRISPR gene-editing research.
The Mystery of Tay-Sachs as a “Jewish Disease”
The fact that Tay-Sachs disease has been essentially eliminated from the population in which it was most frequent is glowing testimony to what we can do when we try.
The Family Gene
When it comes to rare diseases, it’s the loneliness that gets you. But there are many more stories just like ours.
Medical Ethics and New Technology: We Can Do It – But Should We?
How can we bring wisdom from our cultural, civic and religious surroundings to bear on how we use genetic biotechnology?
Where is the Overlap of Jewish Identity and Jewish Ancestry?
Every nucleus of every cell of everything alive today is a repository of past wisdom in the form of texts that continue to inform the present.
The CRISPR Advent of Lulu and Nana
We presume a unique place for ourselves in creation for having been created in the image of God. But what constitutes that image of God?
The Molecular Genetic Basis of Jewish Geography
“Jewish Geography” is more than a social phenomenon – it is a testament to the belief, literal or metaphorical, that Jews share a common ancestry.
Is More Medical Knowledge Always Better?
Can knowing so much sometimes do more harm than good?
Genealogy Can Unite Us… And Also Single Us Out
Beyond confirming traditionally held knowledge, DNA can also solve long-running mysteries by finding connections between people that they might not be as forthcoming about.