(yes, this is a real post by someone who also happened to have actually been arrested for gene editing embryos)

  • SkyezOpen@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Testing DNA destroys the cells you’re testing, so if you test enough cells in a human embryo to be sure that the edits worked, it dies.

    I feel like we’re ignoring the obvious solution here. Stick the kids with an AIDS needle and see what happens! /s

    • AnyOldName3@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      That tests the AIDS immunity, but not whether there are off-target edits. IIRC, the mothers were all HIV-positive, so the children are all pretty likely to be exposed anyway, which was part of how he justified the experiment to himself.

      • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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        4 months ago

        I might be wrong here, but iirc the virus doesn’t automatically pass on to the embryo and HIV doesn’t always “take” either. Even a blood transfusion has a limited chance of infection, like 30% or so IIRC