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A Chinese researcher has openly defended his claim that he created the world's first genetically modified human baby that is resistant to HIV.
He Jiankui spoke Wednesday to a group of scientists at a biomedical conference in Hong Kong, two days after posting a video on the Internet, in which he claims to have used engineering technology CRISPR genetics to alter the DNA of two siblings of an HIV-positive father to prevent them from contracting the virus that causes AIDS.
Doctor He said, he did his research in secret. The work itself has not been independently verified and it has not submitted its report to a scientific journal where the results can be evaluated. However, he told his colleagues that he was very proud of the accomplishments he had accomplished.
He claims to have created a wave of criticism and doubt. The Southern University of Science and Technology, a university in Shenzhen City that employs Mr. He, has reportedly dismissed Mr. He without pay. The university also criticized Mr. He's research, claiming that it violated academic ethics and rules of conduct. The Chinese government has even urged local authorities to investigate his research.
Immediately following his speech at the second International Human Genome Editing Summit, the US biologist David Baltimore, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, who also chairs the summit, called his actions irresponsible and manifestation of the community's inability scientist to control himself. [ab]
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