Daphne O. Martschenko, PhD

Sam Trejo and @daphmarts.bsky.social, authors of What We Inherit: How New Technologies and Old Myths Are Shaping Our Genomic Future, write for @livescience.com about new reproductive technologies and the importance of regulation:

Read this @livescience.com interview with Sam Trejo and @daphmarts.bsky.social, authors of What We Inherit: How New Technologies and Old Myths Are Shaping Our Genomic Future

Did Her White Father Marry Her Black Mother for Love, or for Research?

Sociologist Dorothy Roberts dug into her father’s life’s work to write a new work of her own and unlocked family history along the way.
Did Her White Father Marry Her Black Mother for Love, or for Research? (gift link). www.nytimes.com/2026/02/23/b...

What We Inherit Debating the use of genomic tools and their societal impact

#Introduction: Bioethicist. Adversarial Collaborator (the friendly kind). Writer. Mother to a tiny human and cat.

I study: the ethics of genomic technologies.

Book: WHAT WE INHERIT (2026) tinyurl.com/4m2uu7xu

Website: daphnemartschenko.com

We also published an accompanying op-ed on PGT-P (polygenic embryo selection). You can check it out here! We are in the Wild West when it comes to these technologies.

Sam and I sat down with Nicoletta Lanese at @livescience.com to discuss our book, What We Inherit, and emerging genomic technologies

Have we leapt into commercial genetic testing without understanding it? A new book argues that tests might reshape human diversity even if they don't work.

arstechnica.com/science/2026...

"In What We Inherit: How New Technologies and Old Myths Are Shaping Our Genomic Future, we get to see how their collaboration can shed light on our rapidly advancing genetic capabilities."

Book Review: The Societal Impact of Genetic Research In “What We Inherit,” Sam Trejo and Daphne O. Martschenko examine the link between genetic myths and social genomics.

"...readers who likely feel more attuned to one of the authors’ views at the start of the book will come to appreciate the other side as they learn more about polygenic scores, social genomics, and their influence on genetic myths." undark.org/2026/02/20/b...

One Pivotal Trial, the New Default Option for FDA Approval — Ending the Two-Trial Dogma | NEJM This Sounding Board announces a new FDA policy that the default requirement for FDA approvals will be one robust pivotal trial plus confirmatory evidence, rather than two trials.

Lots to unpack about the 1 pivotal trial default.
www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....
For now a few points:
1. FDA is not legally permitted to set policy by journal article. This must stop.
2. This is not likely to give industry much stability. FDA can decide any time that the default doesn't apply. 1/

Genetic determinism, white nationalism, eugenics, pronatalism, and tiger parenting souped up on bath salts.

🚨 PGC Africa Monthly Meeting Alert!

We are delighted to have Dr @daphmarts.bsky.social from Stanford Centre for Biomedical Ethics joining us for our first monthly meeting of 2026 🎉

📆 26/Feb/2026
🕰️ 2PM GMT/3PM WAT/4PM SAST/5PM EAT/9AM EST

Details in the flyer below

#PGCAfrica

A great day yesterday now that #WhatWeInherit is out in the world! So thankful for all the support!

What We Inherit: How New Technologies and Old Myths Are Shaping Our Genomic Future by Sam Trejo and Daphne O. Martschenko

In What We Inherit, Sam Trejo and @daphmarts.bsky.social debate the use of genomic tools and their societal impact.

Now available (31 March UK pub).

Learn more about this fascinating book: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

#Biology #ReadUP

What We Inherit: How New Technologies and Old Myths Are Shaping Our Genomic Future by Sam Trejo and Daphne O. Martschenko

In What We Inherit, Sam Trejo and @daphmarts.bsky.social offer different perspectives on the societal impact of the rapidly unfolding DNA revolution.

Available February 3 (31 March UK pub).

Learn more: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

#Biology #Science #ReadUP

What We Inherit Debating the use of genomic tools and their societal impact

Less than a month before my debut book "What We Inherit" gets released! You can place pre-orders now: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

Lucky to have gotten to collaborate (and argue) with Sam Trejo for the last 5+ years on this.

🆕 New Hastings Bioethics Forum essay by @daphmarts.bsky.social & @juliaehbrown.bsky.social : As #fertility fears rise, #pronatalism pushes for more children—and increasingly, “better” ones...Genetic tools like polygenic embryo selection, raise serious ethical concerns.

👉 https://bit.ly/3YF5UdM

More and “Better” Babies: The Dark Side of the Pronatalist Movement : The Hastings Center for Bioethics There is growing concern that falling fertility rates will lead to economic and demographic catastrophe. The social and political movement known as

The reproductive technologies that are being promoted by the tech-elite #pronatalists are new. The push to have as many babies as possible—and the best babies—is not. @daphmarts.bsky.social and @juliaehbrown.bsky.social explain in Hastings Bioethics Forum. www.thehastingscenter.org/more-and-bet...

More and “Better” Babies: The Dark Side of the Pronatalist Movement : The Hastings Center for Bioethics There is growing concern that falling fertility rates will lead to economic and demographic catastrophe. The social and political movement known as

www.thehastingscenter.org/more-and-bet...

New piece out with my dear friend @juliaehbrown.bsky.social

🤗

Thank you!!!

Thank you!

What We Inherit Debating the use of genomic tools and their societal impact

Less than a month before my debut book "What We Inherit" gets released! You can place pre-orders now: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

Lucky to have gotten to collaborate (and argue) with Sam Trejo for the last 5+ years on this.

Love that there’s another Daphne though!!

How do Black and White Americans assess the legitimacy of another person’s racial self-identification? Using a series of survey experiments, authors @marissathompson.bsky.social, Sam Trejo, @ajalvero.bsky.social, and @daphmarts.bsky.social illustrate the characteristics that drive racial conceptions

What We Inherit: How New Technologies and Old Myths Are Shaping Our Genomic Future by Sam Trejo, Daphne O Martschenko This accessible exploration from Trejo, a sociology professor at Princeton, and Martschenko, a biomedical ethics professor at St...

@publisherswkly.bsky.social calls Sam Trejo and @daphmarts.bsky.social's What We Inherit: How New Technologies and Old Myths Are Shaping Our Genomic Future "well-researched and nuanced." Read the full review here:

Why I’m Resigning from the NSF and Library of Congress I cannot participate in systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging.

"For me, the answer now lies in refusal, the withdrawal of participation from systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging."

Today I am resigning from the National Science Board and the Library of Congress Scholars Council.

I wrote about my decision in TIME.

time.com/7285045/resi...

stanforddaily.com/2025/03/03/f... Outstanding piece by Stanford colleague Dr Elliott White Jr

New research article with Lucas Matthews, Maya Sabatello, and Colby Lewis “Intersectionality in a Sociogenomic World: How do Race, Disability, Socioeconomic Status, and Polygenic Prediction Interact to Impact Perceptions of Educational Trajectories?”: www.gimjournal.org/article/S109...

One month into my visiting term @ox.ac.uk. The weather has been better than expected, and my prior perception of London as a city with a bad food scene is slowly changing. What a beautiful place to work!!

It was my pleasure and a great conversation!