GENEBRIEF

Welcome to GeneBrief — your fast, clear guide to gene editing and biotech.

Here’s what we’re decoding in this issue:

👶The scientist who made the first gene-edited babies, and the global scandal that followed

🐒Monkeys engineered with inherited autism to study the unthinkable

🐘Elephants, cancer resistance, and the gene that could change everything

🧠A headset that listens to your brain and knows when you're mentally gone

🔍DEEP DIVE

The CRISPR Scandal That Shook the World

This isn’t a story about a breakthrough. It’s about the first genetically edited humans, and the scientist who broke every rule to make it happen.

In 2018, Chinese scientist He Jiankui shocked the world by announcing he had edited human embryos, and those embryos had been born. 

Behind the scenes, Jiankui had reportedly recruited couples through fertility clinics, faked ethics documents, and paid them under the radar.

He didn’t publish the work in a journal. He didn’t ask for global approval. He announced it on YouTube.

They weren’t sick, but he claimed to make them resistant to HIV by disabling a gene called CCR5 that the virus uses to infect cells.

The gene edit targeted CCR5, a doorway on immune cells that HIV uses to slip in. Some people naturally carry a rare mutation that blocks this doorway and grants resistance. Jiankui’s plan was to mimic that mutation using CRISPR.

But he wasn’t copying a known mutation. He was guessing. The twins’ edits were unique — untested in humans, unmodeled in animals, and unrecoverable if wrong.

He used CRISPR to introduce a double-strand break in the CCR5 gene in early embryos. The embryos repaired the cuts using a messy, unpredictable system.

The result? Some of the girls’ cells may carry the edit, while others may not – a condition called mosaicism. This could lead to partial immunity, or unintended side effects no one can predict.

That’s what terrified scientists: the edits weren’t precise, the risks weren’t understood, and the consequences could be lifelong not just for the twins, but for their children.

In 2019, Jiankui was sentenced to three years in prison for illegal medical practices. But the most important data, including the girls’ DNA, their health, their outcomes, has never been released. Now Jiankui is free, with a new lab and a new mission: more embryo edits, this time for rare diseases. 

But here’s the deeper fear: 

If one scientist could do this with a small budget and minimal oversight… what could a well-funded nation or private lab be doing right now?

Jiankui may have been the first to be caught.

But in a world of ambition and weak oversight, he won’t be the last.

⚡QUICK CUTS

They Gave Monkeys Autism – On Purpose

Scientists just did what many claim is unthinkable.

They used CRISPR to delete a gene called SHANK3 in monkey embryos, a gene crucial for brain connectivity and strongly linked to autism in humans.

The result? Monkeys that avoided social interaction, repeated the same gestures over and over, and slept irregularly. MRI scans confirmed what behavior hinted at: fragmented neural connections, eerily similar to what’s seen in human autism.

But here’s what made it historic, and controversial: because the embryos were edited, their offspring inherited the same traits. This became the first inherited autism model in primates.

Why would scientists do this? To study autism in brains closer to our own. Mice just don’t model human behavior well enough. But critics ask the obvious: aren’t we basically giving smart animals human disorders on purpose?

Is this what progress looks like? Or is it a line we were never meant to cross?

The Giant That Outsmarts Cancer

Elephants almost never get cancer despite having 100 times more cells than humans.
That defies logic, right? More cells should mean more chances for mutations.

But the secret lies in a gene called TP53, and elephants don’t just have one copy. They have twenty.

TP53 produces a protein called p53, a cellular bodyguard that detects DNA damage and orders cells to self-destruct before they turn cancerous. Humans have 2 copies, and one failure can be catastrophic. In elephants?  Nineteen backups stand ready.

Now scientists are using CRISPR to study this genetic armor, editing human cells to boost TP53 expression and testing the effect in lab-grown organoids. Early results included cells getting better at spotting damage and self destructing before cancer has a chance.

The dream isn’t just to treat cancer. It’s to prevent it from ever starting.

And the blueprint might come from nature’s largest land animal.

🧠 BRIEF BYTE

The cost to sequence a full human genome has dropped from $100 million in 2001 to just $200 in 2024.

-National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), 2024

We’re surrounded by noise. But what if your headphones could tell when your brain tuned out?

Neurable is building the world’s first brain-monitoring headphones that do more than cancel sound; they decode attention.

Inside, it’s packed with EEG sensors that quietly track your focus, flag mental fatigue, and detect early signs of burnout, depression, even neurodegeneration. When your mind drifts, Neurable knows. And its app responds in real time, nudging you to take a break or sharpen your attention.

Their flagship device, the MW75 Neuro, retails for $699.

It’s a new category of wearable designed to help you listen to your brain, not just music. Because in the age of distraction and short attention spans, mental clarity might be your most valuable signal.

And Neurable wants to make it measurable.

YOUR TURN

Should scientists be allowed to give animals disorders in the name of research?

Featured Take

If gene editing could make you permanently stronger — would you do it?

“Honestly, I’d be tempted. Who wouldn’t want that? But part of me worries it’d change more than just my muscles.”

— Thomas B

Biotech is advancing faster than most realize. From embryos to monkeys, the edits are already here, changing what life means. Hit reply with your take, and I’ll feature the sharpest ones next time.

See you next week. The future doesn’t wait.
— Mario, Founder