Now the geneticist He Jiankui is in real danger

9 January 2019 | Written by La redazione

The author of the study that led to the birth of the first girls with modified DNA now could risks the death penalty

Scientific research is not a game and He Jiankui, the researcher who has been under the spotlight for the study he autonomously realized that led to the birth of twins with modified DNA. On Impactscool Magazine we have followed this controversial affair from the beginning, which now, according to some statements on the Telegraph, could experience a new unexpected development: the researcher, in fact, would even risk the death penalty.

The story. He Jiankui, last November, announced via a Youtube video, a method that is nothing short of unconventional for a researcher, the birth of twins with DNA modified with the Crispr technique. In particular, the scientist’s goal was to make the Ccr5 gene harmless, a key, according to the study, to obtain the genetic resistance to the HIV virus.

After the communication of the study and the first negative reactions of the scientific community, linked in particular to the methodological approach and the ethical doubts, the Chinese researcher He Jiankui took part in the Second International Summit on Editing the Human Genome in Hong Kong. Jiankui, investigated for the incident both from his university, who dissociated itself from the research, and from other institutions in China, on the occasion he defended his work and announced that another pregnancy would be underway with a genetically modified embryo, even if the gestation would still be in the early stages. The trial was blocked and He Jiankui, after his surgery in Hong Kong, lost track of himself. The statements to the Telegraph. As it was easy to expect, they did not wait for new developments in the story. Robin Lovell-Badge, a geneticist who organized the international forum in Hong Kong, on the pages of the famous newspaper in the United Kingdom, said that now He Jiankui would risk the death penalty. In fact, there would be serious crimes such as abuse and corruption, since the study was carried out despite the guidelines forbidding to experiment on human embryos. However, it is not clear how long the investigation will last and what direction it will take, also because we expect further updates on the continuation of pregnancies with modified embryos still underway. Impactscool Magazine already coverd the story here: