Jeffrey Kahn, PhD, MPH - the Andreas C. Dracopoulos Director of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics and the Levi Professor of Bioethics and Public Policy - provides an introduction to the ethics of gene editing. This session examines some of the implications of a range of potential uses of gene editing technologies in humans, assessing the ethical and policy issues, and what tools and approaches there might be to create a process for International governance as we enter this brave new world.

The discovery in 2015 of the ways to use the gene editing technology CRISPR-Cas9 in humans sent shockwaves through both the scientific and science policy and ethics communities, since it created the prospect of moving from genetic testing to genetic modification. This session will examine some of the implications of a range of potential uses of gene editing technologies in humans, assessing the ethical and policy issues, and what tools and approaches there might be to create a process for International governance as we enter this brave new world.