>>11566453>Chimerism means that the intended therapeutic application didn't workYeah but it also doesn't mean something bad happened. And it could be enough, depending on the therapy (although not in this case). Does it mean the whole thing was sort of pointless? Well, yeah. But these sorts of things, science or not, aren't always about succeeding.
>He Jiankui preyed on uneducated rural Chinese to find a couple that he could fool into thinking this was their only optionYes. Like I said, I wouldn't have done it. But if someone on the other side of the world wants to, for the sake of interesting data, then I don't really care. I can't be bothered to cry about every little thing that happens. Drone strikes by western powers eviscerate innocents on a semi-regular basis but we're all okay with it because it's the "greater good" and "regional stability." Kick starting this kind of therapy is a much greater good, and nobody's even dead or even proven to be injured, and my government didn't even do it this time.
>creating transgenic human cells that are Cas9+Pretty sure that's not what he did, I have never heard of anything like that. I think it's more likely he directly injected Cas9 for temporary editing. I doubt a human cell line stably expressing Cas9 would even make it past the embryonic stage. Mice aren't made to permanently express Cas9 either. It's a quick snip-snip that happens when all the proteins and DNA are put into the cell, and then it's over. I'll be honest: yes there could have been off-target effects and it's hard to tell if there are any without full-genome genotyping/exome seq. Their genomes need to be made public and this is the opacity that was bothering me.
>What he did wasn't scientifically innovative or particularly novelNo, it wasn't, but it was a good kick in the ass that the scientific community and the world needed.
