Disgraced Chinese scientist wants to get back in the lab
        
            By Katrina Northrop, 
                The Washington Post
             | 04. 06. 2025
        
                    
                                    
                    
                                                                                                                                    
                                                                            
                              
    
  
  
    
  
          
  
      
    
            photo via Wikimedia Commons licensed under CC by 3.0
China's most infamous scientist is attempting a comeback. He Jiankui, who went to jail for three years after claiming he had created the world's first genetically altered babies, says he remains committed to returning to the lab - and to using gene editing to cure diseases like Alzheimer's. He, 41, has no lab or academic affiliations, and he can't travel: He says the Chinese government has confiscated his passport. But far from being disgraced after international condemnation, He presents himself as a martyr to the controversial technology, even as other scientists worry about its ethical implications.
"There has to be some person to speak for it," He said in an interview. "And I am the person." But much about He's original experiment and purported return to science remains murky. He admits he doesn't have a lab in Beijing - despite posting photos on X suggesting otherwise - and his relationship to the Chinese government, which is intent on developing a leading biotechnology industry, is, well, complicated. Simply put: He could be...
 
       
 
  
 
    
    
  
   
                        
                                                                                
                 
                                                    
                            
                                  
    
  
  
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