Science: with the revolution of CRISPR technology, has China become the world leader in the field of genome editing?

September 4, 2019 / BIOON / - for many people, CRISPR + China is equivalent to he Jiankui, a biophysicist He Jiankui famously used genome editing last year to change the DNA of two human embryos that will become twin girls Prior to his announcement, he was little known in the CRISPR community in China China's CRISPR community has grown rapidly and is now challenging the United States in using this powerful tool, and in some ways has surpassed the United States A more representative figure of CRISPR in China is Academician Li Jiayang, a plant biologist at the Beijing Institute of genetics and developmental biology In 1985, like many of the best and brightest young scientists in China in the past few decades, Professor Li left China for graduate school, and then returned to China in 1995, focusing on manipulating plant DNA Professor Li, who recently finished his tenure as president of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said he had been working for years on precise genome editing CRISPR provided him with a simple and fast way to speed up his efforts to improve rice "Now, all of a sudden, dreams come true," said Professor Li, whose lab buzzed at 9 p.m on Wednesday night, with more than 20 members of his team doing experiments The lights at science's global CRISPR laboratory were turned off late In 2012, researchers transformed the bacterial immune system into a rapid and universal tool for genome engineering, with 127 scientific publications mentioning CRISPR Now it's over 14000 Although the U.S has the most CRISPR publications and is still the most cited newspaper, China now follows closely and invests a lot of money in the use of CRISPR With the support of Pulitzer center, science visited scientists from five cities in China, who are making extensive use of CRISPR disciplines China's biggest effort is in agriculture, but researchers there are also applying editors to animals on a large scale, with the most provocative target being pig organs for human transplantation China is actively exploring the application of genome editing technology in medicine, and has launched many more CRISPR clinical trials focusing on cancer than any other country Photo source: Science although he Jiankui's works are far away from the mainstream, his behavior is bothering China There is also a largely unknown aspect of his rise and fall: what role other people in China and abroad played before his experiments began He shared his plans widely, and although several of his confidants tried to dissuade him, some were more encouraging Wei Wensheng, a geneticist at Peking University, said that China's science and culture must carefully examine how it created researchers like him for the first time by overemphasis "I don't understand why you want to be named the first terrible or bad thing What's the point? "Wei asked Yang Hui of the Shanghai Institute of neuroscience is one of the most successful young CRISPR researchers in China Yes, many CRISPR studies have been published by Chinese researchers, but "very little" has been done with respect to pioneering work, he said "Our generation should publish more creative papers," Yang said "Picture source: science but Yang stressed that in the past two years or so, he has seen a" very fast "growth in quality As China puts its own flag on this frontier of science, overseas travelers like Li and himself may soon be the exception "Now, many good students will choose to stay here because there are many good opportunities," Yang said We have many good students working hard "Reference materials: [1] with its CRISPR revolution, China becomes a world leader in genome editing [2] to feed its 1.4 billion, China's CRISPR push in animals promises better measure, new therapies, and pig organizations for people [4] China sprints ahead in CRISPR therapy race [5] The untold story of the 'circle of trust' behind the world's first gene-edited babies