Stanford probes faculty ties to ‘China’s Frankenstein’ He Jiankui and his gene-edited baby work
- He Jiankui did postdoctoral research at Stanford and began the gene editing project after returning to China
- Several Stanford professors have said they were in contact with He Jiankui over the last year
Stanford University has started a review of interactions that some faculty members had with He Jiankui, the Chinese scientist who claims to have helped make gene-edited babies.
Several Stanford professors have said they knew or strongly suspected He wanted to try gene editing on embryos intended for pregnancy.
The work has been widely criticised since November, when He revealed the births of twins whose DNA he said he altered to try to help them resist possible future infection with the AIDS virus.
Most scientists think gene editing for reproductive purposes is too risky to be tried yet because of the danger of harming other genes and because the DNA changes may be passed to future generations.
He did postdoctoral research at Stanford and began the gene editing project after returning to his homeland for a job at Southern University of Science and Technology of China in Shenzhen.
Several Stanford professors including He’s former adviser, Stephen Quake; bioethicist Dr. William Hurlbut and genetics expert Dr. Matthew Porteus have said they were in contact with He over the last year.
