He Jiankui, the Chinese biophysicist who gained international notoriety for creating the world’s first gene-edited babies, has been released from prison and is already planning new controversial research. The scientist was jailed in 2018 after editing the genomes of three girls in an attempt to make them resistant to HIV, receiving a three-year sentence for conducting illegal medical procedures. His work sparked global outrage over safety, consent, and ethical concerns when he announced the results at a conference before comprehensive peer review.
Despite his incarceration, Jiankui appears undeterred and now plans to use germline editing techniques to combat Alzheimer’s disease. He aims to introduce a genetic mutation identified in Icelandic people who remain free of Alzheimer’s and live longer lives. The scientist will initially test on animals before potentially conducting human trials, possibly in South Africa where germline gene editing became legally permitted last year.
The proposal highlights ongoing debates in biomedicine about gene-editing boundaries. While somatic treatments that don’t affect reproductive cells are gaining approval for severe illnesses, modifying embryos for reproductive purposes remains prohibited in most countries. Jiankui’s germline editing approach is banned in most nations and represents exactly the type of work that led to his imprisonment, raising fresh ethical concerns about his research plans.