Disgraced Chinese scientist He Jiankui who was jailed in 2019 for genetically ... trends now
A disgraced Chinese scientist who was jailed for genetically editing human babies reveals he has returned to genetic research.
He Jiankui was sentenced to three years in prison in 2019 after he announced he had created the first genome-edited babies.
Now, only two years out of prison, Dr He has revealed he has opened three new labs to continue genetic experiments on human embryos.
Dr He told Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun that he had no intention of creating any more genome-edited children.
Despite his arrest, he maintains he is 'proud' of his past work, claiming: 'Society will eventually accept it'.
He Jiankui (pictured at a 2023 press conference) has announced he has returned to the lab after being jailed for genetically editing human babies
Dr He says that he intends to develop gene editing techniques for the treatment of rare diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy and familial Alzheimer's disease.
Despite his arrest and fierce criticism from the scientific community, he has opened three new research labs in Beijing and Wuhan.
This follows an earlier attempt to restart his research in Hong Kong during which Dr He said he had obtained a visa under the island's new talent scheme.
However, Hong Kong authorities revoked his visa less than a day after his announcement, claiming that Dr He had 'made false statements' during his application.
Genetic editing of human embryos has been outlawed in China since 2003, but the procedure is permitted for purely non-reproductive purposes.
Dr He insists that his work will fit within the constraints of Chinese law and that he will no longer pursue any attempt to produce live gene-edited human children.
'We will use discarded human embryos and comply with both domestic and international rules', he says.
In November 2018, Dr He sent shockwaves through the scientific community when he announced he had produced two genetically modified human babies.
In 2018 He Jiankui announced that he had used CRISPR-Cas9 to edit the genes of human babies in an attempt to make them HIV resistant
Dr He told an international genetics
