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(CNN) – A Chinese researcher who has improved cognitive function in monkeys by implanting human genes into their brains has defended his experience, which has divided the scientific community and prompted some researchers at the University of Colorado to s & # 39; Ask questions about the risks.
The research, undertaken by several universities and led by the Kunming Zoological Institute in southwestern China, aimed to shed light on the evolutionary process leading to human intelligence.
"Brain size and cognitive skills are the most profoundly altered traits in humans during evolution, yet the genetic mechanisms underlying these man-made changes remain elusive "
says a report
published March 27 in the Chinese journal National Science Review.
The research paper stated that it was the first time that such a study was taking place.
One of the principal investigators, Su Bing, of the Kunming Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that the experiment had been reviewed by the Ethics Committee from the university and that she had followed not only Chinese and international scientific best practices, but also international standards on animal rights.
"In the long term, this basic research will also provide valuable information for the analysis of the etiology and treatment of human brain diseases (such as autism) caused by abnormal brain development", he said in an email to CNN.
But scientists who have long debated the ethics of transgenic experiments on apes and monkeys said the experiment was leading researchers on a "risky path".
This is the second gene-related controversy that strikes Chinese researchers in less than six months. In November, a Chinese scientist claimed that he had created
the first babies in the world to be edited by a gene,
sparking an international outcry.
He said he used a tool called CRISPR-cas9 to eliminate the genes that made children susceptible to HIV. Chinese authorities have had a bleak view of the experience and have qualified it
"illegal"
and ordering an investigation.
In the study conducted by Su in 2019, 11 gene copies of the human MCPH1 gene were implanted in 11 rhesus monkeys, an important marker of "development and evolution of the brain".
The analysis of the behavior and physiology of the monkeys showed that they were developing in a more humane way, with better short-term memory and a faster reaction time compared to a control group.
Their brains also took longer to develop, in the same way as humans.
The research has been criticized by a number of Western scientists. University of Colorado geneticist James Sikela said it was "a very risky road to take."
Sikela and his colleagues said in an article published in 2010 that transgenic experiments on nonhuman primates raised complex ethical questions and that improved primates would be available to everyone.
increased risk of exploitation and harm.
"This damage makes the conduct of this research ethically unacceptable in great apes, justifying regulatory barriers between these species and all other non-human primates for transgenic research," the 2010 document said. could be valid in certain situations.
In
the MIT Technology Review
Bioethicist Jacqueline Glover of the University of Colorado compared the experience to the dystopian sci-fi film "The Planet of the Apes", in which super-intelligent primates overthrow humans.
"To humanize them is to cause harm, where would they live and what would they be doing? Do not create a being who can not have a meaningful life in any context," Glover said.
But the Chinese scientist Su has accused Western critics, and Sikela in particular, of hypocrisy and carelessness, claiming that the project was unfairly judged by the "stereotypes" of Chinese research.
"Exploring the genetic mechanism of the evolution of the human brain is a major issue in the natural sciences and we will continue our exploration," he said.
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