The Crispr Baby Scientist is back. Here’s what he does next
#Crispr #Baby #Scientist #Heres Welcome to InNewCL, here is the new story we have for you today:
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Some scientists and ethicists think he deserves a chance to prove he is capable of doing scientifically valid and ethical work. “His case is public enough for the world to judge his credibility,” said Sheila Jasanoff, professor of science and technology studies at Harvard University. “I think everything he says is met with considerable skepticism.” However, she sees no moral basis for banning He from publishing future work if his research stands up to the peer-review process.
Others have concerns about He’s plans. “I wouldn’t want to put this guy anywhere near a clinical trial or in a context where therapies are being developed and given to patients,” says Kiran Musunuru, a cardiologist and gene-editing expert at the University of Pennsylvania, the author of The Crispr Generation, a book about the history of gene editing and Chinese babies.
“He’s been secretly conducting illegal and grossly unethical experiments, and now he wants to carry on as if nothing happened,” says Hank Greely, a Stanford University law professor and author of the book Crispr People, which discusses the science and ethics of human gene editing. “I don’t think science should take him back, at least not without some extra time and some indication that he understands, accepts and acknowledges that he screwed up.” Greely thinks scientific journals should refuse to publish articles for now He should be barred from publishing by He and organizations outside of China, but he’s not sure how long the ban will last.
He has not publicly apologized for his Crispr experiments, which aimed to make babies resistant to HIV by using Crispr to create a mutation in a gene called CCR5. This trait occurs naturally in some people of European descent and prevents HIV from entering cells. But He’s data showed that the babies’ cells were mosaicked – meaning the editing wasn’t uniform. It is not known if the children have any health effects related to the editing.
At the 2018 Genome Editing Conference in Hong Kong, he defended his work, saying, “I’m really proud of this particular case.” When asked by WIRED how he responds to criticism of his work as highly unethical, and if he still does Holding the same opinion as in 2018, he replied: “To answer your question, I will speak about it on my next visit to Oxford University, March.”
He was referring to an invitation from Eben Kirksey, an anthropologist at Oxford University who has written a book about Chinese Crispr babies called The Mutant Project, and invited He to a speaking event in the spring. The details and format of the event have not yet been finalized.
Academics are divided on whether He should be allowed to attend and speak at academic events outside of China. In May, he was invited to a closed meeting hosted by the Global Observatory for Genome Editing, a group founded in 2020 by Jasanoff and other scientists to promote international dialogue on gene editing and society. “We wanted to find out more about the circumstances that led to his decision to do what he did,” says Jasanoff. “We were not interested in playing a role in He’s rehabilitation efforts and endeavored to design our process in a way that it could not be viewed as a platform.”
