Last night I watched “Make People Better”, a documentary about He Jiankui’s gene-edited babies. It was a decent documentary (if a bit overdramatized, with lots of generic footage of labs and Chinese streets). Although it did a pretty good job summarizing the story for a non-technical audience, it didn’t present any significant information that wasn’t present in other sources. I would recommend watching it, but only if you’re not already familiar with the He Jiankui affair.
I wouldn't be so quick to judge JK on his choice of method. Stem cell nuclear transfer is obviously superior, but parents want a child that results from their gametes (necessitating the use of embryonic stem cells for the modification), and the retention of correct imprinting in cultured ESCs wasn't solved until a few years later. How big of an issue that imprinting would be in humans isn't known, but I wouldn't want to be the one to find out. Not to mention that, if He went the adult stem cell route instead, the baby being a clone might've been even bigger news.
His choice to do it in the first place was misguided, certainly, due to the questionable gene target (given modern medicine), the risks of off-target and mosaic mutations inherent to CRISPR microinjection, and the amount of blowback it caused for the field.
It's a good point that SCNT also has its risks in terms of retaining the proper epigenetic imprints, although as you mentioned, CRISPR microinjection is inherently unsuitable for human germline modification.
And yes, I was envisioning isolating ESCs from the parents' embryo, then modifying them and using them for SCNT. In fact this method is briefly mentioned (though not explained) in the documentary.
I wouldn't be so quick to judge JK on his choice of method. Stem cell nuclear transfer is obviously superior, but parents want a child that results from their gametes (necessitating the use of embryonic stem cells for the modification), and the retention of correct imprinting in cultured ESCs wasn't solved until a few years later. How big of an issue that imprinting would be in humans isn't known, but I wouldn't want to be the one to find out. Not to mention that, if He went the adult stem cell route instead, the baby being a clone might've been even bigger news.
His choice to do it in the first place was misguided, certainly, due to the questionable gene target (given modern medicine), the risks of off-target and mosaic mutations inherent to CRISPR microinjection, and the amount of blowback it caused for the field.
It's a good point that SCNT also has its risks in terms of retaining the proper epigenetic imprints, although as you mentioned, CRISPR microinjection is inherently unsuitable for human germline modification.
And yes, I was envisioning isolating ESCs from the parents' embryo, then modifying them and using them for SCNT. In fact this method is briefly mentioned (though not explained) in the documentary.