Thursday, 9 August 2018

The US scientist who edited human embryos has something to say to his critics

The researcher behind the world’s largest effort to edit human embryos with CRISPR is vowing to continue his efforts.
What happened: Shoukhrat Mitalipov made headlines last August when he reported successfully repairing a genetic mutation in dozens of human embryos, which were later destroyed as part of the experiment.
The response: The breakthrough drew critics who called it biologically implausible. Yesterday, those critics were given an unusual hearing in Nature, which published two critiques of the research as well as a lengthy reply from Mitalipov and his coworkers. The scientific sparring centers on CRISPR’s tendency to introduce unseen damage into a cell’s DNA.
What’s next: Mitalipov remains intent on proving that CRISPR can work safely on embryos. He says his center continues to obtain eggs in an effort to confirm his results. Teams in China and the UK have also tried editing embryos with CRISPR. But as our own Antonio Regalado writes, its been difficult for anyone to independently confirm the findings.
SOURCE:MIT DOWNLOAD

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