Chinese scientist announces "volunteer" with genetically modified embryo

Chinese scientist He Jian Kui, who unleashed a moral storm after announcing the world's first two genetically modified children, said he was proud of his work as revealed Wednesday and that another volunteer involved in his research was pregnant.

He, an assistant professor at the Southern University of Science and Technology, in Shenzhen, China, delivered a speech to some 700 people at the summit on the human genome amendment of the United States. University of Hong Kong. At first, he apologized for the premature leakage of the search results.

"I am proud (…) of this study was submitted to a scientific journal for review," he said, without mentioning the scientific journal and noting that the university in which he worked was not Was not aware of this study.

He said his work was self-financing and downplayed the fears that the research would be confidential, adding that he had been in contact with the scientific community over the past three years. He said this week in online video recordings that he was using a technology known as Crisper-Cass 9 to tweak Jenny's twins named Lulu and Nana this month.

He added that the genetic modification would help protect the twins against HIV infection, but the Chinese government and scientists have dismissed the work he said, and a hospital-related research has indicated that he had falsified his consent.

CRISPER-KAS 9 technology allows scientists to cut and copy DNA, which reinforces the hope of genetic repair for disease prevention.

There are concerns, however, about safety and ethics: more than 100 scientists said in an open letter on Tuesday that using Crysper-K9 technology to alter genes in the human embryo was risky and unjustified. "They opened the gates of hell," they said.

He said that eight couples were registered to participate in the research and then had one. The study requires that the father be infected with HIV and that the mother is not infected.

He added that the results could be applied to millions of people with underlying diseases and that he would monitor the twins for 18 years and hope that they will be able to remain under surveillance thereafter.

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