China’s ‘Frankenstein’ scientist, He Jiankui, has been released after serving time for creating the world’s first gene-edited babies. He sparked controversy in 2018 by genetically modifying the embryos of three girls to resist HIV.
Despite his past actions, Jiankui is now considering using similar techniques to prevent Alzheimer’s disease. This approach, involving germline editing, is prohibited in most countries and was the cause of his previous legal troubles.
Jiankui aims to introduce a gene mutation, identified in Icelandic individuals who are Alzheimer’s-free and have longer lifespans, to combat the disease. Initially, he plans to conduct experiments on animals before potentially moving on to human trials, with South Africa being a likely location due to the recent legalization of germline gene editing there.
He gained notoriety for his previous gene-editing announcement at a conference without proper peer review, which led to global concerns regarding safety, consent, and ethics. He was subsequently sentenced to three years in prison by Chinese authorities for engaging in illegal medical practices.
While gene-editing technology progresses in other less controversial areas like somatic therapies, the proposal to edit genes for reproductive purposes, especially to address complex diseases, remains a contentious issue in the field of biomedicine.