Meet The Chinese Doctor Who Has Made World's 1st Genetically Modified Babies That Can Never Get AIDS
Chinese scientist claims successfully altering the DNA of twin girls at an embryonic stage girls who were finally born earlier this month in China. Doctor made use of CRISPR gene-editing technique to inject external protein and certain instructions to prevent the twin girls from ever getting infected by HIV virus and contracting AIDS disease.
In a milestone scientific and technological breakthrough, a Chinese scientist is claiming successfully altering the DNA of twin girls at an embryonic stage, girls who were finally born earlier this month in China.
The doctor made use of CRISPR gene-editing technique to inject external protein and certain instructions to permanently prevent the twin girls -- Lulu and Nana -- from ever getting infected by HIV virus and contracting AIDS disease.
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Hailing from the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, scientist He Jiankui reportedly used CRISPR -- a controversial gene editing technique -- to alter the DNA of Lulu and Nana. Both girls were successfully born earlier in the month and are currently living with their parents in China.
As per an Associated Press report, the doctor fertilized the embryos for seven couples through IVF treatments, and only one of those seven pregnancies has reportedly been successful.
In a YouTube video where the doctor speaks in English, he explains how he used CRISPR gene-editing technique to alter the DNA of Lulu and Nana when they were just cells. He injected an external protein along with some instructions to perform "cellular surgery" on the two fertilized embryos.
The gene-editing surgery was meant to protect the girls from future HIV infection, claims the doctor, by removing the portal through which the AIDS virus infects people. Later researchers used gene sequencing technique to successfully confirm that the DNA-editing tweak had actually worked.
If there are no complications in the health of Lulu and Nana, as they grow up, this all but confirms CRISPR/Cas9 as becoming the preferred gene-editing tool of the future. The great part about this technology is it works pretty much like cutting and pasting parts of text from a Word document to another, when it comes to reorganizing a human being's genetic code.
This will no doubt lead to a race of superior, genetically modified superhumans very soon, which will kick open a lot of moral debates on the ethical validity of CRISPR and its use on humans.
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