In a video circulating on the Internet, He Jiankui, head of the gene-edited baby research, said that gene surgery, a new test-tube technology that helps a small number of families, is still a therapeutic technology.He said he knew the work would be controversial, but believed these families needed the technology.
The world's first gene-edited baby controversy continues to simmer. The research leader, He Jiankui, an associate professor at the Southern University of Science and Technology and chairman of Hanhai Gene, is in a huge whirlpool of public opinion. He expressed his willingness to accept criticism through a video, but emphasized that he firmly believes that history will eventually be on our side.He Jiankui is expected to present data from the project today at the Second International Human Genome Editing Summit in Hong Kong.
At the 2nd International Human Genome Editing Summit that opened yesterday, He Jiankui, who was the focus of the media, did not show up.The Beijing News Shenzhen Business Daily reported that Xu Lizhi, president of the Hong Kong Academy of Sciences, did not respond to questions about gene-edited babies at the venue, but he said that He Jiankui should be responsible for his research, which must comply with the National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.10 principles of gene editing from the National Academy of Medicine.
Qiu Renzong, honorary senior research fellow of the Institute of Philosophy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and director of the Academic Committee of the Bioethics Research Center of Peking Union Medical College Medical College, expressed his position in the keynote speech that if the report is true, what He Jiankui did is a moral rationalityThe lowest level of practice and acceptable level, there are other convenient and practical ways to prevent HIV infection, using genome editing is like lsquo; shooting birds with a cannon rsquo;.
According to the plan, He Jiankui will participate in a speech on human embryo editing at the summit this morning, and will attend a public discussion tomorrow.The organizing committee of the international summit stated that it will decide whether to issue relevant statements after He Jiankui's speech.
The day before the summit was held, He Jiankui suddenly announced to the outside world on Monday that a pair of gene-edited twin sisters named Lulu and Nana were born healthy in Shenzhen, China in November., the research team edited and modified the CCR5 gene of the twin sisters, so that they can naturally resist AIDS (called AIDS in China) after birth.
122 scientists issued a joint statement condemning He Jiankui's research
Gene editing is not a new technology, but it is the first case in the world to use this technology to change the genes of babies. This news quickly aroused huge controversy, and the medical risks and ethical issues it faced were questioned. 122 scientists immediately issued a joint statement severely condemning this.practice.Institutions related to the trial also quickly denied any connection, including Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Committee, etc. Shenzhen Hemei Women's and Children's Hospital, which was accused of being the ethics review party for clinical trials, has reported this to the police. The hospital stated that it has no relationship with He JiankuiAny contact, suspect that the relevant report is falsified.
Michael Deem, a professor of Biology at Rice University in Texas, is He Jiankui's doctoral supervisor, and it is said that he and He Jiankui collaborated on this project.Rice University issued a statement after the incident stating that the school had no knowledge of the research and had launched an investigation into Michael middot;The guidelines do not meet the ethical and moral requirements of the scientific research community and Rice University.
He Jiankui’s research team recruited the couple to participate in the experiment through the Beijing AIDS rights organization Bai Hualin. The founder of the organization, Bai Hua, said in an interview with Red Star News that he had helped He Jiankui contact volunteers, but no project participant had explained the whole experiment to him., I think the whole incident is a bit deceitful, and I am quite wronged.
He Jiankui is obviously mentally prepared for the doubts from the outside world.In a video circulated on the Internet, He Jiankui explained to the camera that, except for the gene to prevent HIV infection, the two children had no other genes modified, and they were as safe and healthy as other children.Genetic surgery was chosen to prevent HIV rather than to study the deadly disease because it is safe and has medical value.
He Jiankui emphasized in the video that the birth of the first test-tube baby was once controversial, but over the past 40 years, test-tube technology has helped more than 8 million children come into this world; genetic surgery is a new test-tube technology that helps a small number of families, and it is still atherapeutic techniques.He said that he knew that this work would be controversial, but he believed that these families needed this technology. For them, I am willing to accept blame.
He Jiankui, who was little known before, was quickly picked up by the Chinese media after the incident.According to China Business News, He Jiankui was originally from Hunan. He was obsessed with physics in high school and aspired to become China’s Einstein. According to the data, he completed his doctorate and postdoctoral journey in a famous American university in only five years. He was only 28 years old.He became the youngest associate professor at Southern University of Science and Technology and has won many honors.
An industry insider who once worked with He Jiankui commented that he is smart, crazy, and genius. He is China's Musk (co-founder of Tesla Motors and PayPal).
A reporter from China Business News found through Sky Eye that He Jiankui held shares or served as executives in eight companies related to genes.Among them, he is the legal representative and chairman of Shenzhen Yinhe Biotechnology Co., Ltd. and Shenzhen Hanhai Gene Biotechnology Co., Ltd.
