Claim: Gene-editing Chinese scientist kept much of his work secret.
Verdict: SUPPORTS

Retrieved passages:
title: Lulu and Nana
text: to be HIV-positive and the woman, uninfected. The couples were recruited through a Beijing-based AIDS advocacy group called Baihualin. He kept the clinical trial secret from the scientific community, and, as of 28 November, it was unclear whether the participants had given truly informed consent. He, the researcher, took sperm and eggs from the couples, performed in vitro fertilization with them, 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 create a specific mutation in the gene, (CCR5

title: He Jiankui
text: which he used CRISPR/Cas9 on mice, monkeys, and around 300 human embryos. He's human gene-editing clinical trial was conducted without public discussion in the scientific community; it was first made public on 25 November 2018 when "MIT Technology Review" published a story about the work, based on documents that had been posted earlier that month on the Chinese clinical trials registry. After that story posted, He released a promotional video on YouTube and the next day the "Associated Press" published an interview with He. He had engaged a public relations firm as well. He eventually presented the work on 27

title: He Jiankui
text: condemning He Jiankui and his team for intentionally flouting international ethical norms by doing such irresponsible work, and criticizing that He's "project was largely carried out in secret, the medical necessity for inactivation of CCR5 in these infants is utterly unconvincing, the informed consent process appears highly questionable, and the possibility of damaging off-target effects has not been satisfactorily explored". NIH claims no support for the use of gene-editing technologies in human embryos. Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences published an announcement on journal Lancet, stating that they "are opposed to any clinical operation of human embryo genome editing for reproductive

title: He Jiankui
text: violation of Chinese law. In December 2018, following public outcry regarding his work, He appeared to have gone missing. China’s Southern University of Science and Technology denied the widespread rumors that he had been detained. In 2010, at Rice University, He 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

title: He Jiankui
text: about He's conduct were "particularly acute in China, where scientists are sensitive to the country's reputation as the Wild West of biomedical research". Geneticist Eric Topol stated, "This is far too premature ... We're dealing with the operating instructions of a human being. It's a big deal." Nobel prize-winning biologist David Baltimore considered the work "irresponsible". Developmental biologist Kathy Niakan of the Francis Crick Institute said, "If true...this would be a highly irresponsible, unethical and dangerous use of genome editing technology." Medical ethicist Julian Savulescu of the University of Oxford noted, "If true, this experiment is monstrous." Bioethicist Hank Greely

title: Li Zaiping
text: effective recombinant hepatitis B vaccine. In another project, he utilized a secretive gene expression system in "Escherichia coli" to produce human EGF and human GM-CSF, both of which have been approved for medical use. He also identified a new gene called liver-related putative tumor suppressor (LPTS) in chromosome 8p23. He published more than 200 research papers and won more than 10 national and international prizes including the first-class National Prize of Progress in Science and Technology (three times) and the Ho Leung Ho Lee Prize for Life Sciences. He was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering

title: Yang Huanming
text: the Chinese Academy of Sciences and moved their headquarters to Shenzhen as the first citizen-managed, non-profit research institution in China. Yang Huanming Yang Huanming (; born 6 October 1952), also known as Henry Yang, is one of China's leading genetics researchers. He is Chairman and co-founder of the Beijing Genomics Institute, formerly of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Yang received his B. Sc from Hangzhou University (now part of Zhejiang University) in 1978, followed by a master's degree in biology in 1982 from the Nanjing Railroad Medical Institute (now Southeast University). Yang earned his Ph.D in 1988 in the Institute

title: Li Zaiping
text: Li Zaiping Li Zaiping (; 17 August 1925 – 30 May 2018) was a Chinese molecular biologist considered a pioneer in genetic science and engineering in China. His research team was the first in China to sequence a virus genome. He also utilized "E. coli" to produce human EGF and GM-CSF, and identified the gene LPTS. He was a professor at the Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Li was born in Beijing on 17 August 1925. He graduated from the Department of Chemistry of Peking University in 1947, and

title: Li Zaiping
text: in 1996. Li died at Zhongshan Hospital in Shanghai on 30 May 2018, aged 92. Li Zaiping Li Zaiping (; 17 August 1925 – 30 May 2018) was a Chinese molecular biologist considered a pioneer in genetic science and engineering in China. His research team was the first in China to sequence a virus genome. He also utilized "E. coli" to produce human EGF and GM-CSF, and identified the gene LPTS. He was a professor at the Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Li was born in Beijing on 17

title: Hou Yunde
text: served as the head of planning expert committee on biotechnological field of Program 863. After the restrictions on businesses were relaxed in the 90-s, Hou started one of the first Chinese genetic engineering drug companies. During his lifetime he authored more than 500 articles and books. He was awarded the 2017 Highest Science and Technology Award. Hou Yunde Hou Yunde (; born 13 July 1929) is a Chinese virologist, geneticist and a genetic engineer. After graduating from the Wuhan Medical School he studied at the in the USSR for 4 years, where he authored 17 medical papers and earned a

title: Wen-Hsiung Li
text: the University of Wisconsin Madison (genetics), working with James F. Crow. In 1973 he moved to the University of Texas, where he was appointed as a professor in 1984. Since 1998 he has been a professor at The University of Chicago. Professor Li is best known for his studies on the molecular clock ("i.e." rates and patterns of DNA sequence evolution) and on the patterns and consequences of gene duplication. In 2003, he received the international Balzan Prize for his contribution to genetics and evolutionary biology, and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, who cited his role in

title: Hou Yunde
text: Hou Yunde Hou Yunde (; born 13 July 1929) is a Chinese virologist, geneticist and a genetic engineer. After graduating from the Wuhan Medical School he studied at the in the USSR for 4 years, where he authored 17 medical papers and earned a kandidat nauk (PHD) degree in medical sciences. Continuing his work in China, he laid the foundation for China's molecular virus research and created the first Chinese genetically engineered drugs. In late 1970s he established the first domestic clinical-grade human leukocyte interferon production, which earned him the nickname "Father of Chinese Interferon". From 1984 to 1997 he

title: Nobel Prize controversies
text: the awarding of the prize. The 1993 prize went to Phillip Allen Sharp and Richard J. Roberts "for their discoveries of split genes" the discovery of introns in eukaryotic DNA and the mechanism of gene splicing. Several other scientists, such as Norman Davidson and James Watson, argued that Louise T. Chow, a China-born Taiwanese researcher who collaborated with Roberts, should have had part of the prize. In 1976, as Staff Investigator, Chow carried out the studies of the genomic origins and structures of adenovirus transcripts that led directly to the discovery of RNA splicing and alternative RNA processing at Cold

title: Chuan He
text: Chuan He Chuan He () is a Chinese-American chemical biologist, and is currently the John T. Wilson Distinguished Service Professor and Director of the Institute for Biophysical Dynamics at the University of Chicago, and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He is best known for his work in discovering and deciphering reversible RNA methylation in post-transcriptional gene expression regulation. He graduated from the University of Science and Technology of China in 1994 with a B.S. in Chemistry. After his Ph.D. training with Stephen J. Lippard at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he worked under Gregory L. Verdine as

title: He Jiankui
text: clinical trial, and was present when people involved in He's study gave consent. Deem came under investigation by Rice after news of the work was made public. He Jiankui He Jiankui (; , pinyin Hè Jiànkuí; born 1984, Western name order: Jiankui He) is a Chinese biophysics researcher who is an associate professor in the Department of Biology of the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, China. He became widely known in November 2018 after he had claimed that he had created the first human genetically edited babies, twin girls known by their pseudonyms, Lulu () and Nana

title: Chuan He
text: for its detection and profiling. Together with two other research groups, He and co-workers have revealed the DNA "N"-methyldeoxyadenosine as a new methylation mark that could affect gene expression in eukaryotes. Chuan He Chuan He () is a Chinese-American chemical biologist, and is currently the John T. Wilson Distinguished Service Professor and Director of the Institute for Biophysical Dynamics at the University of Chicago, and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He is best known for his work in discovering and deciphering reversible RNA methylation in post-transcriptional gene expression regulation. He graduated from the University of Science and

title: Li Zaiping
text: became a lecturer of biochemistry at PKU. In 1956, he was admitted as a graduate student to the Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry, where he studied under the academician Cao Tianqin. After graduation in 1960, he founded China's first laboratory for molecular DNA and genetics research at the Shanghai institute. He became a full professor in 1977. Li's group was the first to sequence the full genomic DNA of pADR-1, the most prevalent subtype of hepatitis B virus in China. It was the first time a virus genome was sequenced in China. The research resulted in the development of a highly

title: Anna Chao Pai
text: about genetic engineering , Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc., under the pseudonym, A.C. White Anna Chao Pai Anna Chao Pai (born 1935) is an American geneticist and professor emerita at Montclair State University. Anna Chao was born in Beijing, China. Her maternal grandfather was the Northeast China-based warlord Zhang Zuolin, who was assassinated by the Japanese in 1928. Following the Japanese invasion of Northeast China in 1931, her parents fled the region, first to Beijing where she was born, and then to the United States. They would make only one more visit to China together as a family, in 1939, and

title: Lulu and Nana
text: confidentiality, and that of their parents, could remain protected. On November 25, 2018 "MIT Technology Review" published a story about the work, based on documents that had been posted earlier that month on the Chinese clinical trials registry. After that story was posted, He released a promotional video on YouTube and the next day, the "Associated Press" published an interview with He. He had engaged a public relations firm as well. He eventually presented the work that led to the birth of the girls on November 27 at the International Human Genome Editing Summit. He did not disclose the parents'

title: He Jiankui
text: instead of CCR5, and the work that He did could not protect resulting children from those forms of HIV. He said that he used a preimplantation genetic diagnosis process on the embryos that were edited, where three to five single cells were removed and the editing was checked. He said that parents were offered the choice of using edited or unedited embryos. The twin girls were born in late October or early November; He said that they appeared to be healthy. When they were born, it was unclear if there might be long-term effects from the gene-editing; He was asked