In 2019, a Chinese court sentenced Mr. He to three years in prison
Chinese scientist He Jiankui, who was sentenced to three years in prison after revealing he created the first gene-edited children, said he has returned to the lab to work on treatments for Alzheimer’s and other genetic diseases.
Mr. He told a Japanese newspaper that he had resumed research on genome editing of human embryos despite the ethical controversies of artificially rewriting genes.He told daily news”, “We will use discarded human embryos and comply with national and international rules,” adding that he has no plans to produce more genome-edited babies. Previously, he used a tool called Crispr-Cas9 to rewrite DNA in the embryo.
In 2019, a Chinese court sentenced Mr. He to three years in prison for violating medical regulations. The year before, he claimed he genetically modified twin sisters Lulu and Nana before they were born.
His actions reverberated throughout the medical and scientific communities, prompting widespread condemnation for performing a dangerous, ethically questionable and medically unjustified procedure without the full consent of the families involved.
The court found that Mr Ho falsified documents from the ethics review panel to recruit couples to participate in his study.
Mr. He allegedly used the gene-editing technology Crispr-Cas9 to alter the DNA in the sisters’ embryos, claiming that the changes would make the children immune to HIV.
Mr He went on to defend his work, saying he was “proud” of creating Lulu and Nana, protector the report said. In 2019, through the same experiment, another girl was born.
He told the newspaper that since his release from prison in 2022, he has opened three labs hoping to use human embryo genome editing to develop treatments for rare genetic diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy and familial Alzheimer’s disease.
He told the newspaper that the three children were healthy and had no problems growing up. The twins are now 5 years old and in kindergarten.
“Analysis results [the children’s] The entire genetic sequence shows that no modifications were made to the gene other than for medical purposes, which provides evidence that genome editing is safe,” he told the Daily News. “I’m proud to help families who want healthy children . “
In 2018, Mr. He shocked the world by claiming to have created the world’s first gene-edited baby. The Stanford University-educated professor said the DNA of the girls, named Lulu and Nana, was modified using CRISPR, a technology that allows scientists to remove and replace a strand with precise precision.
But Mr. He’s actions were deemed “stupid” and “dangerous” by experts, and a Chinese court found him guilty of the experiment and sentenced him to three years in prison and fined him 1 million yuan.
