Public Impact

Global ethical conversations and regulations must keep pace with scientific progress.

The ability to rapidly transform agriculture and biomedicine gives rise to new societal and environmental considerations. Research in social sciences and humanities, including ethics, law, policy, and economics, will allow us to more fully understand and shape the potential impact genome editing will have on society. It is essential to encourage and engage in education, dialogue, and policy creation, to ensure that the technology benefits everyone. This will also require us to create new models of commercialization that ensure broad, equitable access to genome engineering therapies and tools.

Key Goals

Use ethical principles to guide genome editing regulation

Assess the potential impacts of genome editing in agriculture and find ways to maximize public benefit

Improve communication about genome editing between researchers and non-experts

Three people having a discussion around a table

Divisions

We use four approaches to make a positive impact: research, education, engagement, and policy. View our research projects on this page. Our other divisions are led by staff, who weave these topics into everything the IGI does. We put special emphasis on developing educational resources for the public, which you can browse by clicking the arrow below.

Education