Genetically modified girls and a Chinese scientist who disappeared

After a sensational statement about the birth of Chinese girls with a modified genome, a very mixed situation developed. On the one hand, humanity for the first time has moved so far in its experiments with the genome, and on the other hand, it turned out that humanity is not yet ready for this. The leadership of the Chinese University said that all work was carried out without coordination with him, and organized a thorough check on the fact of an illegal experiment. And the scientist He Dzhankui himself, under whose leadership a secret medical operation was carried out, after several statements disappeared without a trace and communicates with the press through his representative.

He jankui

At the end of November, a team of doctors from the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, led by Associate Professor Hye Jankui, announced that they were able to change the human embryo genome using CRISPR / Cas9 technology, as a result of which twin girls were born. The scandal erupted precisely because of this technology, the application of which in humans is associated with many difficulties and is not welcomed by the international community.

CRISPR / Cas9 technology itself implies a procedure for replacing a portion of a gene that acquires the desired properties, and the resulting changes are fixed and subsequently inherited. For the first time, experiments on viable embryos using CRISPR / Cas9 technology were conducted in the USA in 2017. After that, similar work was carried out in China and the UK. But the main difference between all previous experiments and the one carried out by the scientist Hye Jankui is that all embryos whose DNA has undergone changes have been destroyed. This is required by modern legislation in many countries of the world, including the USA and Great Britain.

The world community fears that the inheritance of the changes received may lead to unpredictable consequences. Despite the fact that the CRISPR / Cas9 technology is potentially capable of changing the attitude of mankind to hundreds and thousands of hereditary diseases, the use of CRISPR / Cas9 technology at the embryo level, as well as human cloning, is prohibited in most countries of the world.

It is this prohibition that explains the scandalous situation that has developed around Associate Professor Hye Jankui and his experiment. Despite the fact that in China itself there is no ban on the genetic editing of viable embryos, the reaction of the world community can be extremely mixed. Perhaps, for this reason, the leadership of the university, as well as the clinic where the experiments were most likely conducted, hastened to declare their non-involvement in this process.

According to He Jankui, as a result of a successful experiment, two healthy twin girls were born - Lulu and Nanu, who are now several weeks old. Using CRISPR / Cas9 technology, the girls were changed the CCR5 gene, which is attacked by HIV when a person is infected. Apparently, the embryos were initially healthy, but this was supposed to make girls resistant to HIV throughout their lives. However, it turned out that the results of the experiment were not published in scientific circles, but were only announced at one of the international summits without providing any evidence. All that is known about twin girls, reporters learned from the words of He Jankui himself, who, incidentally, does not intend to disclose the secret of the identity of the children born.

After several statements, the scientist left Hong Kong, no one else spoke to him. But through his representative, Hye Jankui said that he would soon provide all the necessary documentation regarding the experiment.