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The Chinese scientist announced that he had helped create the world's first genetically modified twins born this month. His statement caused shock and indignation among scientists around the world. He Jiankui, a researcher at the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, said that he had fertilized a woman with embryos whose genes had been modified to protect against the infection by HIV.
in video posted on YouTube says that girls are healthy and are now at home with their parents. DNA sequencing has shown that editing works and changes only the target gene, says the researcher. If this is true, the birth of twins would constitute a significant – albeit controversial – advance in the use of genome modification. Until now, the use of these tools in embryos was limited to research, most often to explore the benefits of using technology to eliminate mutations causing human germs.
The documents published in the Chinese register of clinical trials show that a popular CRISPR-Cas9 genome has been used to ban the gene called CCR5, which allows HIV to enter the cell.
Fjodor Urnov, a genome editing researcher at the Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences in Seattle, is also using CCR5 genome editing tools, but not in embryos but in HIV patients, says Dr. There are "safe and effective ways" on the use of genetics to protect people from HIV, but this does not include the treatment of embryo genes.
The Chinese University said in a statement of November 26 that she did not know the experiments, the scientist did during her holidays and outside the university premises. More than 100 Chinese biomedical scientists have issued an online statement condemning He Jiankui's allegations and urging the Chinese authorities to investigate the case and introduce strict regulations for such practices.
Recent research suggests that the public supports genome editing aimed at modifying mutations causing disease. In December 2017, the Nuffield Bioethics Committee, an independent advisory committee based in London, published a survey of 319 people. Nearly 70% of them are supportive of gene manipulation to allow infertile couples to have children or to reverse the mutation causing the embryo-related disease.
A larger survey of 4196 Chinese citizens, released last month, showed similar support for gene modification, but only to prevent the disease. Respondents, however, refused to adapt to increase their IQ or athletic ability or to change their skin color.
source: nature.com.
Gallery of the exhibition
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