#1 建奎前妻要在美国编辑婴儿
11月3日，《自然》报道了一位名叫Cathy Tie的创业者，宣布创办一家通过对人类胚胎进行基因编辑来“治愈遗传疾病”的公司曼哈顿基因组。
对于广大科研工作者，乃至绝大部分华人，这位自称是“生物技术芭比”（biotech barbie）的Cathy Tie，有个更著名的身份：第一个贸然制造基因编辑婴儿的人，贺建奎的前妻。两人于2025年4月高调宣布结婚，当时，贺建奎还将自己开的新公司命名为Cathy Medicine。但不到3个月，2025年7月，Cathy Tie宣布两人离婚。
不过，Cathy Tie的争议其实并不限于和贺建奎的关系。从某种程度上说，她和贺建奎之所以会结婚，恰恰是由于Cathy Tie本人的争议观点、行为。
Now, a New York–based startup called Manhattan Genomics is reviving the debate around gene-edited babies. Its stated goal is to end genetic disease and alleviate human suffering by fixing harmful mutations at the embryo stage. The company has announced a group of “scientific contributors” that includes a prominent in vitro fertilization doctor, a data scientist who worked for de-extinction company Colossal Biosciences, and two reproductive biologists from a major primate research center. A scientist who pioneered a technique to make embryos using DNA from three people is also involved.
“I like to take on challenges when I see them,” says cofounder Cathy Tie, a former Thiel fellow who left college at 18 to start her first company, Ranomics, a genomics screening service. As Tie sees it, that challenge is to make the idea of human embryo editing more acceptable in society.
