He Jiankui announced nearly five years ago that he had created the first gene-edited babies. Aowen Cao/NPR hide caption
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Researchers meeting in London this week concluded that techniques that have made it easier to manipulate DNA still produce too many mistakes for scientists to be confident any children born from edited embryos (such as these, photographed in 2018) would be healthy. Mark Schiefelbein/AP hide caption
Ethical concerns temper optimism about gene-editing for human diseases
Biophysicist He Jiankui addressed the last international summit on human genome editing in Hong Kong in 2018. His experiments in altering the genetic makeup of human embryos was widely condemned by scientists and ethicists at the time, and still casts a long shadow over this week's summit in London. Anthony Wallace/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Experts weigh medical advances in gene-editing with ethical dilemmas
He Jiankui, a Chinese researcher shown here at a conference last year in Hong Kong, has been sentenced to three years in prison. Kin Cheung/AP hide caption
CRISPR technology already allows scientists to make very precise modifications to DNA, and it could revolutionize how doctors prevent and treat many diseases. But using it to create gene-edited babies is still widely considered unethical. Gregor Fischer/picture alliance via Getty Images hide caption
The genetic variation Chinese scientist He Jiankui was trying to re-create when he edited twin girls' DNA may be more harmful than helpful to health overall, a new study says. Anthony Kwan/Bloomberg/Getty Images hide caption
2 Chinese Babies With Edited Genes May Face Higher Risk Of Premature Death
There was an uproar in 2018 when a scientist in China, He Jiankui, announced that he had successfully used CRISPR to edit the genes of twin girls when they were embryos. Prominent scientists hope to stop further attempts at germline editing, at least for now. Mark Schiefelbein/AP hide caption
Scientists Call For Global Moratorium On Creating Gene-Edited Babies
Chinese scientist He Jiankui speaks at a human genome editing summit in Hong Kong on Nov. 28, 2018. He announced an experiment on twins that raised a range of ethical questions and prompted China's government to vow to punish him. Anthony Wallace/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Scientist He Jiankui was criticized by colleagues after his claim to have created gene-edited babies became public. Three leading scientific organizations are calling for more controls. Anthony Wallace/AFP/Getty Images hide caption