It's crazy: the clinic, the university and his colleagues disavow the professor of Chinese genetics

On Monday, Professor He shocked the scientific community by saying that, for the first time, he had managed to alter the genome of a human fetus and those resulting therefrom. twin girls have innate immunity against HIV infection.

However, the professor did not provide any proof of his words. The experiment has not been described in any scientific journal where it could be studied by others genetic experts and the newborn twins themselves (if they exist) and their parents were not presented to the public because "the family wanted to preserve anonymity and did not want to communicate with journalists ".

The South Shenzhen University of Science and Technology, to which the professor is enrolled, issued a statement in which he denied any involvement of the university in this experiment, if it had been conducted. It is reported that He Jiankui has been on leave without pay since February of this year. His experiments with embryos certainly did not take place in university territory or during paid working hours, and nothing was known about this at the university or the administration of the Faculty of Biology.

"The Southern University of Science and Technology strictly demands that all scientific research be conducted within the framework of an international academic ethic and academic standards that comply with national laws and regulations," reads the statement. .

It is also reported that the university administration hires independent experts to investigate Professor He's allegations.

The management of the Shenzhen clinic, which also yesterday rejected any involvement in this outrageous experience, said Tuesday that the ethics committee's approval, which would have been received by He Jiankuem and figured in Published online documents for volunteer recruitment, was false because on medical ethics just was not ".

Jiu Nanping, China's Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, told reporters that he was completely shocked by Professor He's statement, and that such experiences in China have been banned since 2003:

We do not know if this news is true or not. But if that's true, then it's certainly illegal in China.

More than 100 leading scientists, mainly from China, signed an open letter strongly condemning this so-called experience. According to him, the use of CRISPR-Cas9 technology to modify the human genome is "risky, unjustified and detrimental to the reputation and development of the Chinese biomedical community".

"Pandora's box is open. And perhaps we still have a glimmer of hope that it will be able to close before it's too late, "says the text of the letter published on the website of the Chinese paper Paper, which costs about 120 signatures.

"The approval of this so-called study by the Biomedical Ethics Commission exists only in words. Conducting direct experiences on people can only be described by one word – it's foolishness, "the authors of the letter continue.

The Society of Geneticists of China and the Chinese Society for Stem Cell Research stated that He Jiankui had conducted his experience in a personal capacity and that his work "posed a huge risk to the research participants":

"We believe that Professor He's study directly contradicts the rules adopted in China and the consensus reached by the international scientific community," says the joint statement of the two organizations.

The director of the Oxford University's practical ethics center, Julian Savulescu, has described the experience of a monstrous Chinese professor.

Professor He himself has released another video in which he states that he is only trying to help families get rid of hereditary diseases. "We believe that historically, ethics will be on our side. Remember the 1970s and Louise Brown (first child born with IVF – Ed.). Then the same fears were expressed and the same criticisms were made, "he says.

Professor He Jiankui is well known in the scientific world. He spent several years in the United States, where he first defended his doctoral dissertation (physics) at the prestigious Private Private Rice University in Texas, and then worked for two years at Stanford. However, after that, the scientist returned to China as part of the national program "Plan a thousand talents".

CRISPR genetic modification technology is not new, but such experiments on human embryos are prohibited in the United States and many other countries. They are likened to experiments on people and challenge the ethics of "genetic programming" of unborn children.

Such interference in the genome raises serious concerns and long-term consequences, as the changes will be pbaded on to all future generations – and it is unclear how they will affect other segments of the DNA.

The second international summit on genome editing, due to open Tuesday in Hong Kong, should answer this question: is the moment it has come for humanity to interfere in its own genetic code – and, if so, how should it be done?

Most bioethics experts in the United Kingdom and the United States tend to believe that genome modification is only allowed in those cases where it is impossible to achieve the desired result by d & # 39; other means. Transmission of HIV to the embryo can be prevented by well-known and widely used clinical methods, which is why scientists believe that He Jiankuya's proposal is unethical.

Previous experiments aimed at eliminating serious hereditary diseases, while all modified embryos were destroyed.

He Jiankui put the organizers of the summit before a fact, announcing the birth of genetically modified twins the day before the conference.

Nikolay Voronin
Correspondent in science and technology