Russian biologist still aims to make CRISPR babies despite the risks

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Denis Rebrikov says he will still move forward with gene-editing work to prevent heritable deafness

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Russian biologist Denis Rebrikov has told New Scientist that he still plans to use CRISPR genome editing to prevent children inheriting deafness, despite a major international report out today saying it isn’t yet safe enough to try in people.

“We are still planning to correct the inherited hearing loss mutation in [the gene] GJB2, so that a hearing baby is born to a deaf couple,” says Rebrikov, who is at Pirogov Medical University in Moscow.

Three children whose genomes were altered …

source: newscientist.com