He Jiankui
He Jiankui ([xɤ̂ tɕjɛ̂nkʰwěɪ]; Chinese: 贺建奎; born 1984) is a Chinese biophysicist who was an associate professor in the Department of Biology of the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in Shenzhen, China. Earning his Ph.D. from Rice University in Texas on protein evolution, including that of CRISPR, He learned gene-editing techniques (CRISPR/Cas9) as a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University in California.
He Jiankui | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 贺建奎 | |||||||||
He in 2018 | |||||||||
| Born | 1984 (age 39–40) Xinhua County, Hunan, China | ||||||||
| Alma mater | University of Science and Technology of China (BS) Rice University (PhD) | ||||||||
| Known for | He Jiankui affair | ||||||||
| Scientific career | |||||||||
| Fields | Biophysics | ||||||||
| Institutions | Southern University of Science and Technology | ||||||||
| Thesis | Spontaneous Emergence of Hierarchy in Biological Systems (2011) | ||||||||
| Doctoral advisor | Michael W. Deem | ||||||||
| Other academic advisors | Stephen Quake | ||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 贺建奎 | ||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 賀建奎 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
He Jiankui became widely known in November 2018 after he announced that he had created the first human genetically edited babies, twin girls who were born in mid-October 2018 and known by their pseudonyms, Lulu and Nana. The announcement was initially praised in the press as a major scientific advancement. But following scrutiny on how the experiment was executed, He received widespread condemnation. His research activities were suspended by the Chinese authorities on 29 November 2018, and he was fired by SUSTech on 21 January 2019. On 30 December 2019, Chinese court sentenced He to three years of imprisonment and a three-million-yuan fine. He was released from prison in April 2022.
He was listed as one of Time's 100 most influential people of 2019, in the section "Pioneers". At the same time he was variously referred to as a "rogue scientist", "China's Dr. Frankenstein", and a "mad genius".