It wasn’t that long ago that Chinese scientist He Jiankui got out of jail. Why was he in there? For doing unauthorized human CRISPR to make heritably gene-edited humans. He botched that and apparently forged some approvals to make it happen. The three children involved may have life-long health problems as a result. I wrote […]
He Jiankui proposes editing human embryos again Read More »
Occasionally when I write a post there is an angry reaction to it in the blog comments, which was the case for my recent fact-check of the LifeWave X39 patches. As you can see in that post, I didn’t find convincing data to either back up the claimed stem cell connection. In my opinion, there
Weekly reads: bat stem cells & viruses, Lineage Cell, He Jiankui visa Read More »
I’m sure many of you remember He Jiankui, the guy who made CRISPR babies. He ended up serving three years in jail in China. He seems to be trying for something of a comeback since his release. Were He Jiankui invitations a mistake? Some prestigious places have even invited him to give talks, which seemed
Weekly reads: He Jiankui disappoints, ALS, Vor Biopharma Read More »
Earlier this year Chinese researcher He Jiankui finished his prison sentence. When I saw that news I wondered about the next chapter for him. It seems he’s already back in the lab doing genetics research. At least that’s according to a blog by He Jiankui himself. Can we trust that what he has written on his website is
He Jiankui says he’s back in the lab after prison for CRISPR babies Read More »
Scientist He Jiankui(贺建奎) has been sentenced to 3 years in prison by Chinese authorities. Two collaborators also will go to jail. A piece in Science by Dennis Normile on the sentencing of He Jiankui ID’d the other two: “His collaborators were identified as Zhang Renli, of a medical institution in Guangdong province, and Qin Jinzhou, from a Shenzhen
Perspectives on CRISPR baby guy He Jiankui (贺建奎) going to jail Read More »
What happens next to He Jiankui (贺建奎) or as some people now refer to him, the “CRISPR baby guy”? China has a challenging situation to resolve here, but such conflicts between scientists and governments have happened regularly in history. When scientists go “rogue” (i.e. don’t conform to norms or ethical standards in an extreme way or
Did Chinese researcher He Jiankui really CRISPR gene edit the CCR5 gene in two embryos producing twin baby girls? In my opinion the answer is “no”, but probably not for the reason you might think at first. He proclaims gene edits He claimed he had made twin baby girls with “gene edits”, which I feel is unethical
He Jiankui didn’t really gene edit those girls; he mutated them Read More »
A team led by Harvard professor David Sinclair had a recent Cell paper on reprogramming to fight aging that I reviewed here on The Niche. I thought the paper was exciting and important. Note that in vivo reprogramming was first done more than a decade ago. Sinclair did have a novel fast-forward aging method and overall
Weekly reads: oocytes from males, David Sinclair longevity inc, diabetes, He Jiankui Read More »
There have been rare instances like with scientist James Wilson where researchers were involved in what I would call major misconduct but somehow managed to bounce back. In a sense, they were given second chances in part by regulators but also by other scientists or supporters. However, after extraordinary misconduct, especially contributing to the death
2nd chances after big misconduct? He Jiankui, James Wilson, others Read More »
Who is Michael Deem and what was his role in his former student He Jiankui’s purported production of twin CRISPR’d babies? Is Deem now trying to edit himself out of the project? He Jiankui relied on help from many people and Deem was reportedly a part of that team. Members of He’s own research team helped