---
title: "Chinese Scientists Claim to Have Gene-Edited Human Babies For the First Time"
description: "A new gene-editing clinical trial, still shrouded in secrecy and surrounded by questions, allegedly resulted in living people with boosted HIV resistance."
date: "2018-11-26"
modified: "2018-11-26"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/chinese-researchers-gene-edited-human-embryos-hiv-crispr"
categories:
  - "Health & Medicine"
  - "Prosthetics and Devices"
tags:
  - "CRISPR"
  - "ethics"
  - "gene-editing"
  - "genetics"
  - "medicine"
---

# Chinese Scientists Claim to Have Gene-Edited Human Babies For the First Time

![A new gene-editing clinical trial, still shrouded in secrecy and surrounded by questions, allegedly resulted in living people with boosted HIV resistance.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/chinese-researchers-gene-edited-human-embryos-hiv-crispr.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Adobe Stock/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Super Babies

For the first time, doctors have reportedly used gene-editing techniques to make a human embryo more resistant to HIV. And if those doctors are to be believed, one of those embryos developed into a pair of twin girls who are alive today.

In [a clinical trial](<http://www.chictr.org.cn/showprojen.aspx?proj=32758>) that’s still largely shrouded in mystery, a team of scientists led by He Jiankui of China’s Southern University of Science and Technology used CRISPR to [alter the genome of human embryos, reports](<https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612458/exclusive-chinese-scientists-are-creating-crispr-babies/>) the *MIT Technology Review*. Specifically, they knocked out a gene called CCR5 that makes people susceptible to HIV, smallpox, and cholera.

Later, *The Associated Press* published claims that [one of those embryos survived](<https://www.apnews.com/4997bb7aa36c45449b488e19ac83e86d>) and resulted in a successful birth.

## “Can” Versus “Should”

But scientists around the world still have tons of unanswered questions about this clinical trial, and it’s sure to be the talk of the [Second International Summit On Human Genome Editing](<http://www.nationalacademies.org/gene-editing/2nd_summit/index.htm>), set to begin Tuesday in Hong Kong.

The consensus in the field of gene editing is that any human trials, especially those that would result in living, breathing, [gene-edited humans](<https://futurism.com/reproduction-mars-colonization>), must undergo thorough and transparent review by ethicists and other doctors — more or less the opposite of how this new, highly secretive experiment was handled. As a result, Jankui is now [under investigation by the Chinese government, according to](<https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612466/the-chinese-scientist-who-claims-he-made-crispr-babies-has-been-suspended-without-pay/>) *MIT Tech*.

Secrecy aside, the decision to try to prevent HIV by altering an embryo is a highly controversial one — so much so that Feng Zhang, the scientist who first developed CRISPR, has [called for a moratorium on altering human embryos](<https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612465/crispr-inventor-feng-zhang-calls-for-moratorium-on-baby-making/>) in the wake of this news, *MIT Tech* reported in a separate story.

## Now What?

Part of the problem comes from the fact that silencing the CCR5 gene does make people more resistant to HIV — a condition that medical developments have made easier to manage in recent years — but in turns makes those people more susceptible to West Nile Virus, a fact that Zhang mentioned in his official statement on the matter.

The consensus among biomedical ethicists and leaders in genetics research, [according to *BBC*](<https://www.bbc.com/news/health-46342195>), seems to be that [editing human embryos](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/base-editing-crispr-marfan>) is an ethical minefield — which the team from the Southern University of Science and Technology marched straight through in their biggest boots.

**READ MORE:** [EXCLUSIVE: Chinese scientists are creating CRISPR babies](<https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612458/exclusive-chinese-scientists-are-creating-crispr-babies/>) \[*MIT Technology Review*\]

***More on CRISPR: [New Test Predicts how Smart Babies Will be Before They’re Born](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/embryonic-genetic-tests-intelligence>)***

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)