User:Traaaco/He Jiankui affair

Lead
For the first part of Wikipedia of He Jiankui, I think there need some revise. I added some new information and introduced He Jiankui follow the time that event happened. Bold and Italic words and sentences are the part I edited. Also, I add a paragraph to be the brief introduction of He Jiankui's research.

(The leading part missing one important aspect the article. In the part of scientific basis, the article question the side effect of gene editing on memory function in brain and question the effectiveness of treatment of HIV, which is not mention in the leading part. And the leading part also comment about the He as "He Jiankui has been variously referred to as a "rogue scientist", "China's Dr Frankenstein", and a "mad genius"." which is not explain in the article body.) The impact of gene editing on resistance to HIV infection and other body functions in experimental infants remains controversial.

Introduction
He Jiankui ([xɤ̂ tɕjɛ̂nkʰwěi]; Chinese: 贺建奎; born 1984) is a Chinese biophysics researcher who was an associate professor in the Department of Biology of the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in Shenzhen, China. Earning his Ph.D. from Rice University in Texas on protein evolution, including that of CRISPR, He learned gene-editing techniques (CRISPR/Cas9) as a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University in California.

'He has studied in different areas of biology. He has not only made breakthroughs in CRISPR gene editing, but also in gene sequencing and many other fields. '

He Jiankui became widely known on November 26th, 2018 after he had claimed that he had created the first human genetically edited babies, twin girls known by their pseudonyms, Lulu and Nana. He received widespread condemnation from all over the world. On April 19, 2018, he was listed as one of Time's 100 most influential people of 2019.

On 29 November 2018, Chinese authorities suspended his research activities.

'On January 21, 2019, he was fired from his job at The Southern University of Science and Technology, and his teaching and research work at the university was terminated. '

'On December 30, 2019, He Jiankui was sentenced to three years in prison and fined 3 million yuan by the Nanshan District People's Court in Shenzhen. Two other participants were banned from working in assisted reproductive technology for life and fined. '

The impact of gene editing on resistance to HIV infection and other body functions in experimental infants remains controversial.

Experiment and birth
He Jiankui, the researcher, took sperm and eggs from the couples, performed in vitro fertilisation with the eggs and sperm, and then edited the genomes of the embryos using CRISPR/Cas9. 'The editing targeted a gene, CCR5, that codes for a protein that HIV uses to enter cells. He was trying to reproduce the phenotype of a specific mutation in the gene, CCR5-Δ32, which is a type of mutation in the CCR5 gene (because the mutation is specifically a 32 base pair deletion on human chromosome 3) makes it resistant to HIV.' However, rather than introducing the known CCR5-Δ32 mutation, He introduced a frameshift mutation intended to make the CCR5 protein entirely nonfunctional. According to He, Lulu and Nana carried both functional and mutant copies of CCR5 given mosaicism inherent in the present state of the art in germ-line editing. There are forms of HIV that use a different receptor instead of CCR5; therefore, the work of He did not theoretically protect Lulu and Nana from those forms of HIV. He used a preimplantation genetic diagnosis process on the embryos that were edited, where three to five single cells were removed, and fully sequenced them to identify chimerism and off-target errors. He says that during the pregnancy, cell-free fetal DNA was fully sequenced to check for off-target errors, and an amniocentesis was offered to check for problems with the pregnancy, but the mother declined. Lulu and Nana were born in secrecy in October 2018. They were reported by He to be normal and healthy.

Research
Brief introduction of He Jiankui's research:

'''He's research in biology is divided into three main areas: CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, bioinformatics and single-molecule DNA and protein sequencing technology. He's been controversial for using CRISPR-CAS 9 on human embryos. In bioinformatics, he published the paper "Current Challenges in the Bioinformatics of Single cell Genomics"   with other biologists. In the single molecule DNA and protein sequencing technology is convenient, he not only developed the gene sequencer, but also made it commercially available on a large scale.'  ''

In 2010, at Rice University, He Jiankui and Michael W. Deem published a paper describing some details of the CRISPR protein; this paper was part of the early work on the CRISPR/Cas9 system, before it had been adopted as a gene editing tool.

In 2017, He gave a presentation at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory describing work he did at Southern University of Science and Technology, in which he used CRISPR/Cas9 on mice, monkeys, and around 300 human embryos.

In August 2018, He met with Chinese-American doctor John Zhang to discuss plans to launch a company focused on "genetic medical tourism." The business was to target elite customers, operating out of China or Thailand. The business plans were shelved with He's detainment in November 2018.

In January 2019, scientists in China reported the creation of five identical cloned gene-edited monkeys, using the same cloning technique that was used with Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua – the first ever cloned monkeys - and Dolly the sheep, and the same gene-editing CRISPR/Cas9 technique allegedly used by He in creating the first ever gene-modified human babies Lulu and Nana. The monkey clones were made in order to study several medical diseases.

Ethics:
Before discussing the ethical issues of gene editing, the gene editing category can be Gene editing can be divided into two categories: somatic cell editing and germ cell editing. The major difference between these two different types of gene editing is that somatic cell editing only affects the edited patient himself, whereas germ cells, because of their genetic qualities, also affect the offspring of the edited patient.

There are criteria for judging whether a new technology or experiment is bioethical. In 2002, Tom L Beauchamp and James Childress, two prominent American philosophers, proposed in their book "Principles of Biomedical Ethics, 5th Edn" the concept of "autonomy, non- maleficence, beneficence and justice" as criteria for judging bioethics.

Scott J Schweikart, a senior research associate of the American Medical Association, in his article "Global Regulation of Germline Genome Editing: Ethical Considerations and Application of International Human Rights Law and Practice", discusses the importance of bioethics as a criterion for judging bioethics. Considerations and Application of International Human Rights Law," analyzes in detail whether somatic cell editing and germ cell editing are consistent with the principles of autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence and justice. He concludes that germ cell editing is not. The experiment that He Jiankui edited the CCR5 genes of a baby at the time of fertilization falls under the category of germ cell editing, and is therefore not in compliance with bioethics.

 Affair's Time Line 

Since 2016, He Jiankui, a former associate professor at Southern University of Science and Technology, and Zhang Renli, a medical institution in Guangdong Province, and Qin Jinzhou, a medical institution in Shenzhen, have used human embryo gene editing technology for assisted reproductive medicine.

On November 26, 2018, He Jiankui's "gene edited baby" incident sparked an uproar. Industry experts questioned the motivation and necessity of the experiment, the compliance of the experimental process, and the uncontrollable impact of the experiment.

Also on November 26, 2018, according to the official website of Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), the university was deeply shocked today by a media report that Associate Professor He Jiankui (who has been suspended from February 1, 2018, with a separation period of February 2018-January 2021) has conducted gene editing research on human embryos. After paying attention to the relevant reports, the university first contacted Associate Professor He Jiankui to understand the situation, and the Department of Biology, where Associate Professor He Jiankui works, then convened an academic committee to discuss this research act. Based on what we have learned so far, the university formed the following opinions.

I. The research work was conducted off-campus by Associate Professor He Jiankui without reporting to the university and the Department of Biology, and the university and the Department of Biology were unaware of it.

The Academic Committee of the Department of Biology considers that Associate Professor He Jiankui's use of gene editing technology for human embryo research is a serious violation of academic ethics and academic standards.

3. SUSTech strictly requires scientific research to comply with national laws and regulations and to respect and abide by international academic ethics and academic norms. The university will immediately hire authoritative experts to set up an independent committee to conduct an in-depth investigation, and will publish relevant information after the investigation.

On January 21, 2019, the investigation team of the "gene editing baby incident" in Guangdong Province was informed that the incident was initially identified as a case of He Jiankui, an associate professor at Southern University of Science and Technology, who, in pursuit of personal fame and fortune, raised his own funds, deliberately evaded supervision, and privately organized relevant personnel to carry out human embryo genetic editing for reproductive purposes, which is explicitly prohibited by the state.

On January 21, 2019, the Southern University of Science and Technology decided to terminate the employment contract with He Jiankui and all his teaching and research activities on campus.

On February 12, Stanford University is following procedures to review researchers on campus who are associated with He Jiankui.

On December 30, 2019, He Jiankui was sentenced to three years of imprisonment and a fine of RMB 3 million; Zhang Renli was sentenced to two years of imprisonment and a fine of RMB 1 million; Qin Jinzhou was sentenced to one year and six months of imprisonment, suspended for two years, and a fine of RMB 500,000 at the Shenzhen Nanshan District People's Court.

In April 2022, the defendant in the "gene-edited baby" case, He Jiankui, a former associate professor at Southern University of Science and Technology, was recently released from prison.

Source

Some of the source in this Wikipedia article is from news paper and even the newspaper that from small newspaper agency, which is not reliable, is not authoritative, and seriously biased. For example:

"Later in February 2019, news was reported that suggested the Chinese government may have helped fund the CRISPR babies experiment, at least in part, based on newly uncovered documents." This statement is base on the sources: Qiu, Jane (25 February 2019). "Chinese government funding may have been used for 'CRISPR babies' project, documents suggest". STAT News. Retrieved 1 March 2019; Chen, Angela (26 February 2019). "New documents suggest Chinese government helped fund the CRISPR babies experiment". The Verge. Retrieved 1 March 2019; Belluz, Julia (4 March 2019). "CRISPR babies: the Chinese government may have known more than it let on - The latest developments in the gene-editing saga raise more questions than answers". Vox. Retrieved 4 March 2019. These sources themselves have not show the reliability and authority and three sources are contradict to each others, as one says Chinese government are not aware their fund are been used for human gene editing, and other two says the Chinese government already realized their fund are been used by He and supported his experiment.