The scientist continues to edit the genome of human embryos

Chinese scientist He Jiankui, who rose to fame in late 2018 after claiming to have achieved create the first genetically modified babieshe continued his research on genome editing of human embryos to treat genetic diseases after serving time in prison.

He, who was sentenced to three years in prison by his country’s authorities in 2019 for illegally carrying out the project for reproductive purposes, said in an interview with the Japanese newspaper Mainichi that his current work meets international standards and that society will eventually accept this practice.

The scientist assured the aforementioned media in an interview published this Monday that his goal is is the treatment of rare genetic diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy or Alzheimer’s disease genetically determined by genome editing in human embryos, and that they will use rejected embryos for their research and be in accordance with local and international standards.

He would establish three laboratories in China after he is released in 2022, including in Beijing and Wuhan, according to Mainichi.

In November 2018, a Chinese scientist surprised the international community by announcing that he had succeeded in creating the first twins genetically engineered to resist HIV, which led to a lot of criticism, especially due to ethical issues.

The twins were part of a trio of babies born as a result of a gene-editing project during in vitro fertilization of eight couples in which only the husbands were infected with HIV, to prevent transmission of the virus.

The scientist was then “proud” of his work and emphasized that his study It was not his intention to eliminate genetic diseases but to “give girls a natural ability” to resist possible future HIV infection.

After an investigation, the Chinese authorities found that he had carried out the project illegally in order to achieve fame and financial gain.

He said about the children during the interview: “They are perfectly healthy and have no problems with growth.” He also reported that the twins, now about 5 years old, are going to kindergarten, and that another baby born in 2019 is also a girl.

The scientist said he was proud of his achievements and assured that analyzes of the complete genetic sequences of the girls showed that “there were no gene modifications beyond the medical target, which provides evidence that the genome editing was safe”.

Reflecting on the criticism he received, he complained that his research so “busy”but he did not explain why he decided to implement it beyond international standards.

The scandal has forced Chinese authorities to review their regulations regarding human genetic modification, which now require national approval for clinical research in the field or in other “high-risk biomedical technologies.”

The controversial researcher said in 2023 that he intended to conduct gene-editing research in Hong Kong using artificial intelligence, plans that were thwarted after Hong Kong authorities revoked his work visa.