For a few months this year, Cathy Tie and Dr. He Jiankui were biotech’s most controversial couple.
He, the Chinese scientist once imprisoned for creating the world’s first gene-edited babies, announced via his popular X account that he had just married Tie, a Thiel fellow known for unconventional ventures like glow-in-the-dark pets. He has grown to embrace the nickname the media once used to condemn him, China’s Frankenstein, while Tie calls herself Biotech Barbie.
Their relationship unraveled within weeks of their wedding ceremony in China. Tie, a Chinese-Canadian, reported that Chinese authorities blocked her from entering the country, while He wasn’t allowed to leave. By midsummer, Tie said she was selling her ring and they both signaled they had moved on.
Now, both are pursuing new gene-editing ventures on opposite sides of the world.
Cathy Tie’s Manhattan Genomics
In New York, 30-year-old Tie just launched Manhattan Genomics with geneticist Dr. Eriona Hysolli, a former lead scientist at Colossal Biosciences, the $10B startup best known for its efforts to de-extinct the woolly mammoth. They announced a roster of scientists and ethicists to guide what they call a “new era of genomic medicine.” Their focus is preventing inherited diseases like Huntington’s, cystic fibrosis, and sickle cell anemia through embryo gene correction.
“This is our generation’s Manhattan Project,” Tie said in a press release. “With the brightest minds in bioethics and reproductive medicine guiding our work, we’re building the foundation for responsible genomic medicine, advancing cures under the strongest ethical and regulatory guardrails while positioning the US to lead globally in this transformative field.”
Among the startup’s scientific contributors are IVF pioneer Norbert Gleicher, bioethicist John R. Quain of Mount Sinai, and Dr. Shoukhrat Mitalipov, who invented mitochondrial replacement, which is considered the world’s first germline therapy. Other key contributors include Dr. Carol Hanna and Dr. Jon Hennebold, who specialize in non-human primate embryo biology, and Dr. Stephen Turner, a computational genomics expert and former head of strategy at Colossal Biosciences.
Manhattan Genomics says it will start by testing its embryo gene-editing methods in animals and lab-grown cells to make sure the approach is safe and works as intended. According to the company’s FAQ, it’s directly funding academic labs through sponsored research agreements. They’re focusing on next-gen gene editing methods like base editing and prime editing, which allow scientists to fix tiny genetic mutations more precisely and with less risk that older CRISPR methods.
On its website, the startup insists it’s not developing “designer babies” or “super soldiers.” Critics liken germline treatments to playing God. They worry the technology could lead to genetic inequality and unknown consequences for future generations, likening it to playing God.
“Our work is strictly focused on correcting gene mutations that cause severe diseases with significant burden and cost to the healthcare system, but more importantly, with unimaginable pain and suffering to the patients and their families,” the company says. “Our ethical framework is built around the principle of healing and reducing suffering from inherited diseases. Gene therapy companies have overpromised and underdelivered for these patients.”
Like the early cannabis industry, Manhattan Genomics is operating in a space where the science and public sentiment are evolving faster than the law. Current US law makes what the team wants to do, edit human embryos and bring them to term, not legally possible. Federal spending bills renewed since 2015 include a clause that prohibits the FDA from reviewing or approving any clinical application involving heritable genome editing.
Scientists are limited to performing basic research on cells or animal embryos using private funds. Implanting them to create a new pregnancy would require Congress to change federal law or remove the funding restriction. So, Manhattan Genomics’ work today is essentially to build the case that editing an embryo’s DNA can be done safely, transparently, and responsibly so that regulators might one day allow it in clinical use.
He Jiankui’s Research
In late 2018, He Jiankui shocked the scientific community when he announced the birth of the world’s first gene-edited babies in a series of videos from his Shenzhen lab. He secretly recruited an HIV-positive father and his partner for the study, claiming he could make their children resistant to the virus that causes AIDS. During the IVF process, the scientist edited the human embryos using a technique called CRISPR-Cas9 to delete a gene called CCR5, which helps HIV enter cells.
He conducted the work without proper oversight, failed to disclose intentions to authorities, forged ethics approval documents, and later admitted that the parents involved did not fully understand the risks. The experiment led to the birth of two girls, named Lulu and Nana. It was later revealed that a third gene-edited baby was born in 2019. The scientist insists the children are healthy today though they can’t get adequate health insurance because of the scandal.
Chinese authorities reacted swiftly and forcefully. During secret proceedings, a court convicted He and two collaborators in December 2019 of illegal medical practices and violating regulations. He was sentenced to three years behind bars and fined ¥3 million (about $430,000 USD). His assistants received lesser sentences for their roles.
Amid the global reckoning, the People’s Republic enacted new regulations explicitly banning human germline editing for reproductive purposes and tightened the ethical review process for sensitive biomedical research. Because of his work, the research is harder to conduct gene-editing research in the mainland than the US.
Since he left prison in April 2022, He has remained unrepentant about the core idea, though he’s expressed regret about the impact his actions had on his family. He moved to Beijing and became increasingly active on the X, where he’s called his CRISPR project “biotech’s Sputnik moment,” likening it to the former Soviet Union’s opening salvo in the Space Race era.
He Jiankui Laboratory
A few days after Manhattan Genomics emerged from stealth, He shared a link to his new lab’s website. In its public-facing content, the He Jiankui Laboratory frames itself as a moral redemption project, pledging to focus on ethics, affordability, and compassion after the 2018 firestorm.
He says his lab’s work will center on embryo gene editing, affordable gene therapies for rare diseases, and DNA synthesis technology, all conducted within strict ethical and legal boundaries. On its website, the lab describes itself as “a place that believes science can gently change destiny.” Despite the push for legitimacy, He remains provocative on social media, where he recently called gene editing “100 times more powerful than nuclear bombs.”
Separate Paths, Same Goal
After his ex’s announcement, He made it clear he’s not involved, posting on X: “I am not involved in Manhattan Genomics company.”
Tie has also politely distanced herself from the controversial scientist. In a September 2025 interview with tech journalist Ashlee Vance, she said: “I don’t want to comment too much on the relationship, but … I do wish him the best.”
Despite the separation, they’re working toward the same outcome. An intense technological arms race between the US and China could transform bioethics overnight. Biotech is becoming the next big playground for tech bros and VCs, which could fundamentally change the pace and direction of the field.
Many high-profile experiments underway today would have been too controversial just a decade ago, but attitudes have shifted along with advancing technology. Even touching a human embryo with CRISPR would’ve triggered outrage in the post-Dolly era. Today, scientists from the UK, China, and the US legally edit embryos in labs as long as they’re destroyed after a few days and never implanted.
Labs have also created synthetic embryos from stem cells with no fertilization, showing early brain and heart tissue. Other labs have used gene therapy to improve memory or learning in mice. There are also companies, like Elon Musk’s Neuralink, implanting chips directly into people’s brains and startups like Cortical Labs are rushing computers to market that are powered by lab grown human brains.
Then there’s Colossal Biosciences, linked to Manhattan Genomics through talent, which secured significant funding after demonstrating the ability to genetically engineer an Asian elephant with woolly mammoth traits. Its staggering $10B valuation makes it the first Texan decacorn. Their work is too radical for He, who has floated the idea that it’s a front for bioweapon development.
“Colossal may be worth $10B+ and have an expensive PR team, but I edited human embryos and my tweets get more views,” he wrote in April 2025. “We are not the same.”