Russian biologist still aims to make CRISPR babies despite the risks

By Michael Le Page

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

Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg via Getty

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 …