Genetically Modified Humans Born (Allegedly)

I realize normally we don’t talk about the news or hot-button issues, but this is of sufficiently high importance I am posting anyway.

There is a link from Nature News on Monday here. There is a link from MIT Technology Review discussing the documents uploaded by the team behind the effort here.

Summarizing the report I heard on the radio this morning:

  • The lead scientist is He Jiankui, with a team at Southern University of Science and Technology, in Shenzhen.

  • 7 couples in the experiment, each with HIV+ fathers and HIV- mothers.

  • CRISPR was used to genetically edit embryos to eliminate the CCR5 gene, providing HIV resistance.

  • Allegedly twin girls have been born with these edits.

I don’t think DNA testing of the twins has taken place yet. If anyone has a line on good, nuanced sources, I’d be interested in hearing about it.