Rice University is studying a scientist who has worked with a researcher on gene editing in babies

Rice University has opened an investigation into one of its professors that allegedly contributed to the creation of the world's first genetically modified baby, an assertion that has sparked international controversy over science and ethics. Michael Deem, professor of bioengineering at the university, said that he had helped a Chinese researcher in gene editing, banned in the United States.

"This research raises troubling scientific, legal and ethical issues," said the university in a statement, adding that she had no knowledge of Deem's work. He stated that no clinical work has been performed in the United States.

"No matter where it was conducted, this work featured in newspaper articles violates the guidelines of scientific conduct and is inconsistent with the ethical standards of the scientific community and Rice University," he said. -he declares.

The researcher, He Jiankui, studied at Rice and Stanford before returning to his homeland to open a laboratory at the China University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, where he also owns two genetics companies.

The university said his work "seriously violated ethics and academic standards" and planned to conduct an investigation. A spokesman for He confirmed that he had been on teaching leave since the beginning of this year, but he remains a faculty member and has a laboratory at the school. His claims have not been independently verified and have not been published in a medical journal, where they could be verified by experts.

Dr. David Agus, an oncologist at the USC Westside Cancer Center, explained the doctor's procedure on "CBS This Morning".

After creating an embryo by in vitro fertilization, the doctor used the CRISPR gene editing tool (abbreviation for regularly grouped short palindromic repeats) to surgically modify a letter on 3 billion of the DNA code of the disease. 39, embryo to create resistance. to HIV infection. "It changed the code of the HIV receptor, the AIDS receptor, into the cell, and then the embryo was introduced to a woman," Agus said.

This process is presented as a way to eliminate the threat of HIV.