"The Chinese scientist who created the world's first gene-edited children has been sentenced to three years in prison by a Chinese court.
He Jiankui, a biophysicist trained at Rice University and Stanford, shocked the world last year with his claim to have created genetically modified humans, twins referred to as Lulu and Nana.
In addition to a prison term, He will pay a $425,000 fine and will be banned for life from further involvement in reproductive medicine, according to a report from China's Xinhua news agency. The sentence was handed down December 30 by Shenzhen Nanshan District People's Court.
He's team employed the versatile DNA-editing technology known as CRISPR to alter the twins' genomes when they were newly fertilized embryos floating in a petri dish. The scientists then transferred them to a woman's uterus to begin the pregnancy.
Two of He's coworkers, Zhang Renli and Qin Jinzhou, will also receive prison terms of two years and 18 months, respectively, for "carrying out human embryo gene editing ... for reproductive purposes."
He Jiankui, a biophysicist trained at Rice University and Stanford, shocked the world last year with his claim to have created genetically modified humans, twins referred to as Lulu and Nana.
In addition to a prison term, He will pay a $425,000 fine and will be banned for life from further involvement in reproductive medicine, according to a report from China's Xinhua news agency. The sentence was handed down December 30 by Shenzhen Nanshan District People's Court.
He's team employed the versatile DNA-editing technology known as CRISPR to alter the twins' genomes when they were newly fertilized embryos floating in a petri dish. The scientists then transferred them to a woman's uterus to begin the pregnancy.
Two of He's coworkers, Zhang Renli and Qin Jinzhou, will also receive prison terms of two years and 18 months, respectively, for "carrying out human embryo gene editing ... for reproductive purposes."