'China's Frankenstein' wants to gene-edit babies to end Alzheimer's
What's the story
Chinese scientist He Jiankui, who was imprisoned for creating the world's first gene-edited babies in 2018, is now looking to make a comeback. The controversial researcher had edited the genomes of three girls with the intention of protecting them against HIV. Now, he wants to use similar techniques to prevent Alzheimer's disease. However, his plans remain unclear as germline editing is banned in most countries, including the US.
Research journey
He's post-prison work and future plans
After serving his sentence, He has been working on a gene therapy for boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Although he hasn't published any results yet, he claims that a pharmaceutical company is interested in his research and funders are willing to support him. He's also set up an independent lab in South Beijing where he recently started discussing human embryo editing again—this time with the aim of preventing Alzheimer's disease.
Lab operations
New lab's focus and funding sources
He plans to introduce the APP-A673T mutation, which was found in Icelandic people who are free of Alzheimer's and even live longer. As of now, He's been conducting human cell line experiments for a few months. He has raised 50 million yuan ($7 million) for his lab through donations and early seed money, but no government funding.
Trial prospects
He's future plans and potential clinical trials
He hopes to raise $10 million to take his Alzheimer's research from cell lines to mice and monkeys, even a small-scale clinical trial. Despite his criminal history, he is open about his work on social media. He has also expressed interest in conducting human trials in South Africa where germline gene editing was legalized last year.
Ethical considerations
He's stance on human IQ enhancement
He has been vocal against research on enhancing human IQ, calling it a "Nazi eugenic experiment." He distinguishes between disease prevention and enhancement in genetic editing. His lab is working toward making multiple edits in one embryo to prevent major diseases like cancer, Alzheimer's, cardiovascular disease, HIV. He believes that children born from such highly edited embryos would be healthier and possibly live longer than us.