He Jiankui returns to gene-editing work in Beijing after prison

He Jiankui, the Chinese researcher who created the worlds first genetically edited babies and served three years in prison after being convicted of deceiving medical authorities, is living and speaking openly from a government-backed research hub north of Beijing as he resumes work in gene editing.

He cannot travel abroad because his passport has been seized. Dr. Hes 2018 experiment, which produced twin girls and later a third baby from another set of parents, drew global outrage over the safety and ethics of editing embryos; in all three cases the father was H.I.V. positive.

He says his aim was disease prevention, not enhancement, and has resumed research at a Beijing laboratory focused on Alzheimers and Duchenne muscular dystrophy, experimenting only with mice. He has been offered a post by a government-funded medical academy in Shenzhen, and some Chinese scientists who earlier denounced his work have not publicly reaffirmed their denunciations.

China has issued new rules that ban modifying DNA in reproductive cells but place oversight of such research with the State Council health department; Dr. He called the rules "ambiguous" and a possible sign of opening. Observers say he has not been fully silenced or fully rehabilitated"he is not being treated like an ex-convict," one ethicist saidand the whereabouts and health of the edited children remain secret and unverified.

Key Topics

World, He Jiankui, Beijing, Shenzhen, China, Gene Editing