Chinese scientist met with doubt over genome editing experiment

HanChunyu,aChinesescientist,publishedhisDNA-guidedgenomeeditingtechnique,NgAgo,inthemagazineNatureBiotechnologyonMay2.However,sincehisresultshavenotyetbeenreplicated,Hanisnowencounteringdoubtsandquestionsfromhispeers.

OnJuly29,ablogpostpushedthestorytonewlevelsofpublicity.GaétanBurgio,groupleaderandheadofthetransgenesisfacilityattheJohnCurtinSchoolofMedicalResearch(JCSMR)withinANUCollegeofMedicine,BiologyandEnvironment,publishedtheresultsofhisownexperiment,whichusedmicetotrytoreproduceHan’sresults.Onhisblog,Burgiowrotethatheholds“seriousdoubt[about]NgAgooveritsendonucleaseactivity.”Meanwhile,heurged"NatureBiotechnology"topetitionHantoreleasehisrawdataandexperimentalconditionstothepublic.

OntheafternoonofJuly30,LluisMontoliu,formerchairmanoftheInternationalSocietyofTransgenicTechnology(ISTT),repliedtoanemailfromaCaixinreporter.Inhisemail,MontoliuexplainedthateveryexperimenttryingtoreproduceHan’sresultssinceHan'spaperwaspublishedhassofarfailed.

Facingmountingdoubts,Hanrepliedthathisresultscanonlybeproventhroughscience,andhewillnotrespondtomediaspeculation,whichinhisopinionis“notscientific.”

OtherChinesescientistshaveremarkedthatdoubtsandsecond-guessingareverycommoninscience.QiuZilong,aresearcherwiththeInstituteofNeuroscienceundertheChineseAcademyofSciences,wroteinanonlineQ&Athat, “wehaveenoughtimetooptimizeourtechnology[totestHan’spaper]sincethepaperwaspublishedonlytwomonthsago.AsfortheauthenticityofHan’spaper,it’suptoathird-partyorganizationtodecide.”

Typically,journalswilllaunchaninvestigationintopapersthataremetwithgreatskepticism.Ifthedoubtsareconfirmedinthiscase,thejournalwilleithermakecorrectionsordeletethepaper.Atthetimeofwriting,nocommentshadbeenmadebyNatureBiotechnology.

(PEOPLE'S DAILY ONLINE)