Claim of First Gene-Edited Babies Triggers Investigation

He Jiankui says he has successfully used CRISPR-Cas9 to tweak the genes of twins born earlier this month. Some independent experts are dubious.

Written byCatherine Offord

| 2 min read

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Image of human embryo, signifying CRISPR babies born with edited genes.

He Jiankui says he has successfully used CRISPR-Cas9 to tweak the genes of twins born earlier this month. Some independent experts are dubious.

Image credit:© iStock.com, herbap

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The Southern University of Science and Technology in China has launched an investigation following reports that one of its researchers carried out unauthorized gene editing in the cells of twin girls born earlier this month. News of the procedure yielding the so-called CRISPR babies, which lead scientist on the project, He Jiankui, announced in several videos posted yesterday (November 25) on YouTube, has led to outrage among researchers who see this use of CRISPR as a violation of worldwide ethical standards, but also doubt the claim’s veracity.

“If this is a false report, it is scientific misconduct and deeply irresponsible,” Robert Winston, emeritus professor of fertility studies and professor of science and society at Imperial College London, tells BBC News. “If true, it is still scientific misconduct.”

In the videos, He claims to have used CRISPR-Cas9 not to prevent a heritable disease in the twins, but to try to give ...

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Meet the Author

Catherine Offord
After undergraduate research with spiders at the University of Oxford and graduate research with ants at Princeton University, Catherine left arthropods and academia to become a science journalist. She has worked in various guises at The Scientist since 2016. As Senior Editor, she wrote articles for the online and print publications, and edited the magazine’s Notebook, Careers, and Bio Business sections. She reports on subjects ranging from cellular and molecular biology to research misconduct and science policy. Find more of her work at her website.
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