Legal & Ethical Implications of CRISPR Applications in Psychiatry

38 Pages Posted: 1 Apr 2019 Last revised: 23 Feb 2020

See all articles by Alexandra Foulkes de la Parra

Alexandra Foulkes de la Parra

Susman Godfrey, LLP

Takahiro Soda

University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill - University of North Carolina Hospitals

Martilias Farrell

University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill

Paola Giusti-Rodríguez

University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill

Gabriel Lázaro-Muñoz

Baylor College of Medicine

Date Written: February 9, 2019

Abstract

Gene-environment interactions play a key role in how psychiatric disorders manifest and develop. Psychiatric genetics researchers are making progress in identifying genomic correlates of many disorders. And recently, the field of genetics has given rise to a technology that many claim will revolutionize the biological sciences and propel the field into a transformative phase: a powerful gene-editing tool known as CRISPR-Cas9. This contribution will illustrate which psychiatric conditions are likely to make an attractive target for CRISPR as the technology evolves and CRISPR therapies becomes a viable tool to manage or prevent disorders in a clinical setting. We examine the potential scientific and clinical challenges of applying CRISPR in the mental health context, along with the regulatory, ethical, and legal issues that might arise as a consequence of these applications.

Keywords: CRISPR, Psychiatry, Legal, Ethical, Genomics

Suggested Citation

Foulkes de la Parra, Alexandra and Soda, Takahiro and Farrell, Martilias and Giusti-Rodríguez, Paola and Lázaro-Muñoz, Gabriel, Legal & Ethical Implications of CRISPR Applications in Psychiatry (February 9, 2019). Alexandra L. Foulkes et al., Legal and Ethical Implications of CRISPR Applications in Psychiatry, 98 N.C. L. Rev. 1359 (2019), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3348184

Alexandra Foulkes de la Parra (Contact Author)

Susman Godfrey, LLP ( email )

Houston, TX
United States

Takahiro Soda

University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill - University of North Carolina Hospitals

NC
United States

Martilias Farrell

University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill

102 Ridge Road
Chapel Hill, NC NC 27514
United States

Paola Giusti-Rodríguez

University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill

102 Ridge Road
Chapel Hill, NC NC 27514
United States

Gabriel Lázaro-Muñoz

Baylor College of Medicine

Houston, TX
United States

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
178
Abstract Views
1,180
Rank
324,142
PlumX Metrics