He Jiankui attended the 2nd International Summit on Human Genome Editing held by the University of Hong Kong yesterday.This is his first appearance after the "gene-edited baby" incident.
(Reported by Sing Tao Daily) He Jiankui, an associate professor at Southern University of Science and Technology who has "modified" human embryos with gene editing technology and successfully bred twins without authorization, has caught the attention of the world. Yesterday he appeared at the Second International Human Genome Editing Summit at the University of Hong Kong,First public appearance.
He said he was "very proud" of helping an AIDS family give birth to a healthy baby girl who was immune to AIDS and would do his best to take care of it, but acknowledged that gene editing in one of the twins had the risk of "off-target".The chairman of the conference and Nobel laureate Baltimore criticized He Jiankui's project as "irresponsible" and "a failure of supervision by the overall scientific community."Xu Lizhi, president of the Hong Kong Academy of Sciences, said that He Jiankui's answers to issues such as ethics and morality are not satisfactory and disappointing.
The National Health Commission and the Ministry of Science and Technology issued a joint statement last night, emphasizing that they are highly concerned about the incident, saying that scientific research and medical activities must be carried out "in accordance with relevant laws, regulations and ethical standards", and "violations of laws and regulations shall be firmly investigated and dealt with."Guangdong Province and Shenzhen City have set up a joint investigation team to carry out a comprehensive investigation.
On Monday, domestic and foreign media suddenly reported that He Jiankui's team deleted the CCR5 gene in human embryos through gene editing technology, and helped a man with AIDS and a healthy partner give birth to twin girls, Lulu and Na, who are naturally immune to AIDS.Na.Because gene editing has uncontrollable health and ethical risks, it has caused a global uproar.
He Jiankui attended the summit at the University of Hong Kong at noon yesterday under much attention. This was his first public appearance after the controversy and he responded in the form of a speech.At the beginning, he apologized for "leaking the news", saying that the news of the birth of gene-edited babies should be discussed in the scientific community before being made public.
Then he began to come up with experimental data, pointing out the effect of gene editing in mice, monkeys and human embryos.The genetic sequencing results of 50 human embryos showed that more than 40% of the embryos were edited effectively.However, in the embryos of Lulu and Nana, the CCR5 gene editing of one of them was not completely successful, but it did not harm other genes.
He said that seven couples underwent the whole process of the study, and a total of 31 fertilized eggs successfully entered the embryonic stage.He revealed that all the projects have been suspended at present, and there is still a pregnant woman with "biochemical pregnancy".However, experts pointed out that the embryos of biochemical pregnancy will not develop, that is, early abortion.
He Jiankui said that he was "very proud" of helping HIV-positive couples to give birth to healthy babies, thinking that this experiment was done for millions of AIDS children: "I am most proud that this father had lost hope. In the twinsAfter the baby girl was born, he sent me a message, saying: I will work hard to earn money for the rest of my life to take care of my daughter and wife.”
After the speech, scientists and media from all over the world questioned He Jiankui, especially the review of the medical ethics committee in the experiment.He Jiankui did not respond positively, saying only that he saw millions of families at risk of genetic diseases needing help.Some viewers asked about the health risks of the two girls. He Jiankui said, "I will spend the rest of my life in charge."
Wei Wensheng, a professor at Peking University, asked why he would secretly work on the project without first consulting the regulatory agency, since it is an international consensus to prohibit the editing of human embryos.In this regard, He Jiankui only briefly stated that he had consulted ethics and clinical experts in Berkeley, the United States, and many overseas academic occasions.
Finally, someone asked, "If these two were your children, would you still do this?"He Jiankui said, "This is a good question. If my child had a similar situation, I would be the first to try it."
After He Jiankui's speech, Qiu Renzong, an 86-year-old senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and an expert in bioethics, bombarded He's claim of "news leak" at the venue, saying that he intentionally released the research before the summit, "with intentions.", "Deliberately set up an "atomic bomb"".
Xiaomei Zhai of the Bioethics Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences also said that the incident had a very bad impact on the overseas reputation of Chinese scholars. "Many young people who are applying for foreign laboratories were told to find another way this morning. Because these laboratories will not recruit any more."Chinese students in this field."
He Jiankui's colleagues and all the professors of the Department of Biology of SUSTech also issued a document yesterday evening condemning the gene-edited baby incident, saying that they deeply regret the occurrence of this incident and its adverse effects.
