Out of jail, is the CRISPR-baby scandal scientist at it again?
By Natasha Mitchell,
ABC [feat. CGS' Katie Hasson]
| 03. 17. 2023
Chinese scientist Dr Jiankui He flouted the law and bioethics basics to create the world's first CRISPR gene edited babies. Now out of jail, he's on Twitter recruiting patients and raising funds for more trials, this time in adults not embryos. An unhelpful distraction or a cautionary lesson for the world's scientists? Dr Joy Zhang has an extraordinary insider view after a recent encounter with Dr He. Dr Katie Hasson is part of a global Coalition to Stop Designer Babies, and runs a Missing Voices initiative to diversify who gets a say about heritable genome editing.
Listen to the full episode at the link!
Guests:
Dr Joy Zhang
Founding director, Centre for Global Science and Epistemic Justice
University of Kent, UK
Co-author, The Elephant and the Dragon in Contemporary Life Sciences (Manchester University Press, 2022)
Dr Katie Hasson
Associate Director
Center for Genetics and Society, USA
Further information:
Looking Back into the Future: CRISPR and Social Values (University of Kent report from meeting with Dr He Jiankui in February 2023)
The Third International Summit on Human Gene Editing, London, 2023 (livestream videos via the...
Related Articles
By Ed Cara, Gizmodo | 06.22.2025
In late May, several scientific organizations, including the International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy (ISCT), banded together to call for a 10-year moratorium on using CRISPR and related technologies to pursue human heritable germline editing. The declaration also outlined...
By Isabel van Brugen, Newsweek | 06.05.2025
A U.S.-based biotech company has unveiled a new in vitro fertilization (IVF) option that allows parents to select embryos based on genetic markers tied to health and longevity.
DNA testing and analysis company Nucleus Genomics has announced the world's first...
By Jonathan D. Grinstein, PhD, Inside Precision Medicine | 06.03.2025
On Tuesday, 307 days after he was first admitted to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), KJ Muldoon went home after being successfully treated with the first personalized CRISPR gene editing therapy. KJ, who was born with a serious and...
By Caiwei Chen and Antonio Regalado , MIT Technology Review | 05.23.2025
Since the Chinese biophysicist He Jiankui was released from prison in 2022, he has sought to make a scientific comeback and to repair his reputation after a three-year incarceration for illegally creating the world’s first gene-edited children.
While he has...