---
title: "New Gene-Editing Method Could Lead To “Creation of a Super-Baby”"
description: "A new technology could lead to the creation of super-powered gene-edited babies, warns the scientist behind the updated method for editing human embryos."
date: "2019-06-03"
modified: "2019-06-03"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin Houser"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/gene-edited-babies-super-baby"
categories:
  - "Health & Medicine"
  - "Prosthetics and Devices"
tags:
  - "base editing"
  - "CRISPR"
  - "gene-edited baby"
  - "the digest"
---

# New Gene-Editing Method Could Lead To “Creation of a Super-Baby”

![Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua has confirmed that a third gene-edited baby has been born as part of researcher He Jiankui's controversial experiment.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/gene-edited-babies-super-baby.png>)
*\<em\>Image: Image via Shutterstock/Tag Hartman-Simkins\</em\>*

## Avoiding Brightburn

Chinese researchers have found a way to nearly triple the efficiency of a tool designed to edit genes in human embryos. Their method should be ready for clinical use soon, with gene-edited babies available in another year or two, Yang Hui, the lead researcher behind the project, [told the *South China Morning Post*](<https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3012615/gene-editing-breakthrough-china-comes-urgent-call-global-rules>).

But even she is concerned that her team's technological breakthrough could have dire consequences.

"The technology is similar to weapons and drugs," Yang told *SCMP*. "Immoral use, such as the creation of a super-baby, should be banned forever."

## Rounding the Bases

The technology at the center of this research is called [base editing](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/base-editing-crispr-marfan>), and it involves changing a DNA nucleotide or "letter."

It's a variant of CRISPR, but because it doesn't involve the cutting of any DNA strands, base editing is generally considered the safer of the two technologies.

## Efficiency Unlocked

For the [study](<https://genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13059-019-1703-6>), which was published in the journal *Genome Biology*, Yang's team injected a base editor designed to correct a mutation into human embryos at the two-cell stage of development. This proved to correct 80 percent of the mutations as opposed to the 30 percent corrected when the base editor was injected at the single-cell stage.

Yang told the *SCMP* that the team is now striving for near-100 percent efficiency, and given her timeline predictions, China will need to act fast to regulate the tech — or risk its use to create gray-market enhanced humans.

**READ MORE:** [Gene-editing breakthrough in China comes with urgent call for global rules](<https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3012615/gene-editing-breakthrough-china-comes-urgent-call-global-rules>) \[*South China Morning Post*\]

**More on designer babies:** *[Sketchy Clinics Are Trying to Hire Doctor Who Gene-Edited Babies](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/sketchy-clinics-gene-edited-babies>)*

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinjhouser>)