Josephine Johnston - Promises and pitfalls of editing our genes

Josephine Johnston is the director of research at New York-based The Hastings Center, the world's first bioethics research institute. She is an expert on the ethical, legal, and policy implications of biomedical technologies, particularly as used in human reproduction, psychiatry, genetics, and neuroscience. Her current projects address the ethical implications of new kinds of prenatal genetic tests, the relationship between gene editing technologies and understandings of human flourishing, and the potential use of genetic sequencing technology in newborns. A New Zealand-trained lawyer with a master's degree in bioethics and health law from the University of Otago, Josephine Johnston will be in New Zealand in late September to give a series of talks about the ethics of gene editing for the Royal Society.