Researcher claims birth of first gene-edited babies

It was said to be a matter of time, and the time might be at hand: A Chinese researcher says he helped make the world’s first CRISPR babies. The claim, by scientist He Jiankui, who studied in the U.S. before starting a lab at Southern University of Science and Technology of China, could not be immediately verified. But it has stunned the world, including the scientists who just so happened to be gathered in Hong Kong for the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing.

He is scheduled to speak at the summit later this week.

In a promotional video posted to YouTube, He said two baby girls, whose embryos he claims to have genetically modified using CRISPR-Cas9, were born a few weeks ago. The scientist says he edited the embryos to disable a gene called CCR5, which produces a receptor that allows HIV to enter cells.

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