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The University of Oxford said in a statement that He Jiankui, pictured, had been scheduled to attend a private event in Oxford, but “we understand this has been postponed until further notice”. Photo: AP Photo

He Jiankui, Chinese creator of world’s first gene-edited babies, cancels Oxford event

  • He, who has been the subject of controversy and a jail sentence, says he is not ready to discuss the past three years
  • Attendants at a weekend seminar report being disappointed after the biophysicist refused to engage in discussion, instead asking for questions by email
Science
A Chinese biophysicist who created the world’s first gene-edited children has cancelled two key international engagements next month, including speaking at Oxford University, amid concern about the lack of transparency regarding his research.
“I feel that I am not ready to talk about my experience in past three years. So I decide that I will not visit Oxford in March,” He Jiankui posted on Twitter on Friday.

He said he would also not attend the Third International Summit on Human Genome Editing at the Francis Crick Institute in London early next month.

02:14

Chinese scientist claims to have created world's first gene-edited babies

Chinese scientist claims to have created world's first gene-edited babies

Major themes of the meeting include the science and techniques of gene editing, clinical research for somatic genome editing and ethical principles for human genome editing.

He Jiankui announced the birth of gene-edited twin girls at the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing at the University of Hong Kong in 2018. One panel during the London meeting next month is called “Regulation in China following the 2018 misuse of heritable human genome editing”.
He was released from jail in April after serving three years for conducting “illegal medical practices”.

The University of Oxford said in a statement He Jiankui had been going to attend a private event in Oxford, but “we understand this has been postponed until further notice”.

He previously said he would speak at the university at the invitation of Eben Kirksey, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Oxford. They would discuss topics including gene-editing technology and its related ethical issues.

In addition to the event, Kirksey said he was granted permission from the university ethics committee last November to conduct oral history interviews with He. The conversations were broadly on ethics and Kirksey said he had sought the truth about what happened in 2018.

World’s first gene-edited humans living ‘normal, peaceful’ lives: He Jiankui

“We have explored a broad variety of topics relating to the health and well-being of the children … ensuring that he has made a good promise in the participant consent form relating to taking care of their health. For me, that’s of the utmost importance,” Kirksey said.

“So, I think it is very critical to keep talking about what has happened not only in the last three years, but in the time leading up to his experiment in 2018.”

He Jiankui did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

He joined a seminar by video on Saturday in which he delivered a basic presentation about the CRISPR gene-editing technique and its broad applications.

The seminar was hosted by the University of Kent’s Centre for Global Science and Epistemic Justice, with participants from 13 countries – more than 60 per cent of whom were based in China. The event’s co-chair, Lei Ruipeng is from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, where He joined the event.

He Jiankui is working on gene therapy research for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) – a rare genetic disease characterised by progressive muscle damage.

He confirmed at the event he was trying to raise 50 million yuan (US$7.3 million) and aimed to enter clinical trials by March 2025, according to a report of the seminar. He also mentioned a plan to set up an international ethics committee for his research lab but did not give further details.

The event’s hosts asked speakers to “look back at their research experience and comment on how ethics and scientific research can better integrate and shed light into the future”.

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Chinese scientist He Jiankui involved in gene-edited babies jailed for three years

Chinese scientist He Jiankui involved in gene-edited babies jailed for three years

However, He’s talk left some participants disappointed after he refused to engage in the discussion. Instead, he asked participants to send him questions by email.

Some of the questions asked by participants related to He’s DMD research plan, China’s regulations in genome editing and ethical questions surrounding gene editing.

Joy Zhang, a sociologist at the University of Kent and one of the event’s organisers, said the seminar team had anticipated He might not engage with the discussion.

“This is why at the beginning of the event, I specifically told all attendees that ‘what will be said and not said are equally important’,” Zhang said.

“We considered that given his active recruitment campaign of DMD patients, having his refusals to clarify key questions recorded in a public event was also of public interest.”

Scientist who made first gene-edited babies freed from jail in China

She said the event had had some positive impact, including that He Jiankui had stopped “social media promotion” of his DMD research to patients.

He said on the Chinese social media platform Weibo in the early hours of Monday that he had decided to suspend posting social media updates and “will focus on scientific research”.

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