A scientist who created the first genetically manipulated babies suspends his tests – World

"There will be an interruption of clinical trials, given the current situation," said He Jiankui at an expert conference in Hong Kong, in which he repeated Monday his statement in the perspective of The birth of twins The DNA has been manipulated to make them resistant to the AIDS virus.

At the same international conference, David Baltimore, a former Nobel Prize winner for literature, said the Chinese scientist's work showed a flaw in the self-regulation of scientists.

Baltimore pointed out that Jiankui's work "would be considered irresponsible" because it did not meet the criteria that many scientists agreed on several years ago even before it was could consider genetic manipulation.

David Baltimore was speaking at an international conference in Hong Kong, where Chinese scientist He Jiankui from Shenzhen made his first public statements since the unveiling of his work.

Jiankui said the twins were born this month and were designed to withstand future infections with the AIDS virus.

Baltimore said members of the conference committee would meet and issue a statement Thursday on the future of this scientific field.

Another prominent American scientist who spoke at the conference, George Daley, dean of the medical school at Harvard Medical School, warned of an adverse reaction to He's claim.

Daley argued that it would be unfortunate that a misstep with a first case would lead scientists and regulators to reject the good that could come from altering DNA to treat or prevent a sickness.

There is still no independent confirmation of the Chinese scientist's thesis, but scientists and regulators quickly condemned the experiment as being unethical and unscientific.

The National Health Commission has ordered local authorities in Guangdong Province to conduct an investigation into He Jiankui's actions, while his employer, the Southern University of Science and Technology, also announced the Opening of an investigation.

On Monday, the Chinese scientist said that he had helped create the world's first genetically modified baby, a twin whose DNA, He Jiankui, said he had modified a technology that could rewrite the "map of China." life".

Scientist He Jiankui of Shenzhen said he modified the embryos during fertility treatments of seven couples, which resulted in a pregnancy up to now.

Jiankui said that the goal was not to cure or prevent an inherited disease, but to try to build resilience to a possible future HIV-AIDS infection.

In recent years, scientists have discovered a relatively simple way to manipulate genes. The tool, called CRISPR-cas9, allows you to modify the DNA to provide a necessary gene or to disable one that causes problems.

Jiankui studied at Rice and Stanford Universities in the United States before returning to his home country to open a laboratory at the South China University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, where he also owns two genetics societies.

An American scientist said that he had worked with Jiankui on this project. He is a professor of physics and bioengineering, Michael Deem, who was his adviser at Rice University in Houston. Deem also holds "a small stake" in both Jiankui companies, he said.

All the men involved in the project were HIV-positive, unlike all women, but the genetic manipulation was not intended to avoid the low risk of transmission, he explained.