Chinese Scientist He Jiankui Resumes Gene-Editing Research After Prison Sentence, Plans Alzheimer's Treatment
Chinese scientist He Jiankui, who created the world's first gene-edited babies and served three years in prison for ethical violations, has returned to his lab to work on Alzheimer's and other genetic diseases using discarded human embryos.
He plans to comply with domestic and international rules and has no intention of producing more genetically edited babies.
In 2019, Chinese scientist He Jiankui was sentenced to three years in prison for breaching medical regulations.
He had previously used Crispr-Cas9 to edit the DNA of embryos, resulting in the birth of genetically modified twin girls, Lulu and Nana, in 2018.
The scientific and medical communities condemned his actions due to the ethical concerns and potential risks involved.
He was found to have falsified documents from an ethics review panel to enlist couples for his research.
He claimed that the modifications would confer immunity to HIV upon the children.
He, a researcher, is proud of creating Lulu and Nana, two children born through genome editing experiment in 2017.
Another child was born in 2019 through the same method.
He aims to use genome editing in human embryos to develop treatments for genetic diseases like Duchenne muscular dystrophy and familial Alzheimer's disease.
The three children are healthy and attending kindergarten.
The analysis of their entire gene sequences shows no modifications other than for the medical objective, providing evidence that genome editing is safe.
He has opened three laboratories since his release from jail in 2022.
In 2018, Chinese professor He Jiankui claimed to have created the world's first genetically-edited babies, named Lulu and Nana, using the CRISPR technique.
However, his actions were widely criticized as foolish and dangerous by experts, and a Chinese court sentenced him to three years in jail and fined him 1 million Yuan for conducting the experiment.
In 2019, Chinese scientist He Jiankui was sentenced to three years in prison for breaching medical regulations.
He had previously used Crispr-Cas9 to edit the DNA of embryos, resulting in the birth of genetically modified twin girls, Lulu and Nana, in 2018.
The scientific and medical communities condemned his actions due to the ethical concerns and potential risks involved.
He was found to have falsified documents from an ethics review panel to enlist couples for his research.
He claimed that the modifications would confer immunity to HIV upon the children.
He, a researcher, is proud of creating Lulu and Nana, two children born through genome editing experiment in 2017.
Another child was born in 2019 through the same method.
He aims to use genome editing in human embryos to develop treatments for genetic diseases like Duchenne muscular dystrophy and familial Alzheimer's disease.
The three children are healthy and attending kindergarten.
The analysis of their entire gene sequences shows no modifications other than for the medical objective, providing evidence that genome editing is safe.
He has opened three laboratories since his release from jail in 2022.
In 2018, Chinese professor He Jiankui claimed to have created the world's first genetically-edited babies, named Lulu and Nana, using the CRISPR technique.
However, his actions were widely criticized as foolish and dangerous by experts, and a Chinese court sentenced him to three years in jail and fined him 1 million Yuan for conducting the experiment.
