What we know — and don’t — about claim of the first gene-edited babies

What we know — and don’t — about claim of the first gene-edited babies





Good morning! Andrew Joseph here filling in for Megan.
You can reach me at andrew.joseph@statnews.com.

Claim of CRISPR'd babies rocks science world

The global scientific community has been scrambling to understand and respond to the monumental claim that researchers helped make the world’s first babies whose DNA was edited when they were embryos.

• In Hong Kong, where scientists and ethicists were gathered at a summit to discuss the very topic of human genome editing, the claim stunned organizers and led to pushback that the research — which has not yet been verified — was unethical and potentially dangerous.
• In China, the Southern University of Science and Technology sought to distance itself from the work, which was led by one of its researchers. Other Chinese researchers condemned the project.
• In the U.S., Rice University announced it had launched an investigation into one of its faculty members for his involvement in the research. Also, the NIH reiterated its opposition to editing embryos' DNA. 

Meanwhile, He Jiankui, the lead researcher, is scheduled to address the genome editing summit tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. in Hong Kong, which is 10:30 p.m. ET tonight. Webcast info is available here. And be sure to check statnews.com — our reporter Sharon Begley is in Hong Kong covering the summit.