Ling Xinin Ohio

26 Jul 2024

The Chinese scientist who sparked global uproar in 2018 by creating the world’s first gene-edited babies said on Thursday that he is considering an offer to work in the United States.

Biophysicist He Jiankui told an online round table that an investor from Silicon Valley has offered him US$1 million to help start a company in the US focused on gene-editing technologies to prevent Alzheimer’s disease.

“It’s a very interesting proposal, and I’ll consider it. I would be happy to work in the United States if there is a good opportunity,” he told the round table organised by the magazine MIT Technology Review.

He served a three-year sentence for illegal medical practices and has struggled to regain a foothold in the research community since his release from prison in 2022.

Plans to work in Hong Kong under the city’s top talent scheme were dashed last year, when He’s visa was revoked over suspicions that he had made false statements in the application paperwork.

In addition to a laboratory in Wuhan, central China, He said he has also opened a relatively new and “independent” facility at Sanya, in the southern island province of Hainan, with funding from American donors and Chinese companies.

During the round table, He said that people from a “small Eastern European country” and an unnamed island nation had invited him to continue his research there but he had rejected these offers. “I need to do research in the US and China or other major countries,” he said.

The US-trained scientist, who earned his PhD from Rice University and did postdoctoral research at Stanford University, said he decided to study Alzheimer’s because his mother has the condition.

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Chinese scientist He Jiankui involved in gene-edited babies jailed for three years

Chinese scientist He Jiankui involved in gene-edited babies jailed for three years

He told the round table that he proposes using a relatively new gene-editing technology, known as base editing, to introduce a specific genetic mutation into human embryos to protect against the most common cause of dementia.

He emphasised that his work would be restricted to mice, monkeys and non-viable human embryos, with no intention to implant an embryo to create a pregnancy or any subsequent children. “The basic research part can be completed in two years.”

However, He said that he would have no say in determining when this technology might enter human trials. That would be up to society, he said.

Embryo editing is banned in China and the US, as well as several other countries, but “will be as common as IVF babies” in 50 years, according to He, who added that all babies will be born free of known diseases as a result.

“I believe society will eventually accept that embryo genetic editing is a good thing, because it improves human health. So I’m waiting for society to accept that,” he said.