The Chinese researcher who claims to have created the world's first genetically-altered babies revealed a possible second pregnancy had resulted from his project, highlighting the dilemmas facing China's leaders as they attempt to control a nascent industry racing to dominate genomics research globally.
He Jiankui — the Shenzhen-based scientist who shocked the world this week by claiming he had altered the genes of the embryos to make them resistant to HIV — said the study is on hold. The U.S.-trained researcher spoke for the first time at a genetics conference in Hong Kong, where he sought to defend his work and faced probing questions from peers.
"I feel proud," he said of the birth of the twins, who he said were born normal and healthy. He's claims are yet to be verified and he didn't identify the subjects of his experiment. His appearance at the summit left participants, which included prominent gene-editing researchers, with more questions than answers. He spoke softly and haltingly, and it wasn't clear if the other 'potential pregnancy' that he referred to was still viable.