He calls himself a martyr: a scientist from China, who has been editing embryo genes, returns to science

Biologist Jiankui HE

@Jiankui_he/x

A Chinese scientist who has been prison for editing embryo genes is going to return to science.

He calls himself a martyr and compares with the inventor of a nuclear bomb, reports The Washington Post.

Biologist Jiankui HE in 2018 stated that he genetically changed three human embryos to make them unacceptable to HIV. He used the CRISPR technology to edit the germ gene genes. The changes in this way can be transmitted to posterity.

The HE experiment has been criticized. Many Chinese and international scientists have stated that this can lead to the emergence of « design children » (when parents can choose a number of traits – from race to intelligence).

Others were concerned that the scientist did not properly warn the potential consequences for children’s health.

The experiment was a signal that China’s desire to quickly turn into a scientific superpower is not without ethical challenges.

In the following years, Beijing tried to solve these problems, in particular, he introduced strict prohibitions on any editing of the genes of the germ line of human embryos in clinical trials, as well as expanded the requirements for ethical examination.

After his release from prison, Jiankui HE has been working at a private university in Uhan for five months. However, according to the scientist, he was released after communicating with foreign journalists.

He has no contact with any academic institution now and cannot travel – he says the Chinese government has taken away his passport.

Now Jiankui he is pretending to be a « martyr » because of contradictory technology. He recently stated that he was going to return to the laboratory and apply the method of gene editing for the treatment of other diseases.

Recently, HE has published grand statements on the social network X and adds photos in a white robe against the laboratory background.

« I want to be the leader of gene editing around the world », He stated in one of the posts.

The journalist The Washington Post visited a laboratory, which he poses on his social networks. It is associated with the Beijing University. The guard told the correspondent that the scientist was no longer allowed.

He also wrote in March that « Ethics restrains scientific innovations and progress ».

However, there are few specific specifics in his posts. HE did not publish any evidence that children from his past experiment are currently healthy.

The biologist argues that he investigated the possibility of editing genes for the treatment of Duchene’s muscular dystrophy and Alzheimer’s disease. However, he did not publish the results of this work.

Hee compares himself with Robert Oppenheimer, the inventor of the atomic bomb. The scientist says that his work has changed the world not as he expected.

In the winter, he placed on the X business plan, which asked for $ 10 million to create laboratories in Beijing and Austin (USA). Shortly afterwards, he removed the document, claiming that he found enough money. However, the details did not reveal.