“I think I’m crazy enough to do it!”

These were the words of Russian scientist Denis Rebrikov – when he told the Nature scientific journal that like Chinese scientist Dr. He Jiankui, he too, was using CRISPR to make HIV-resistant babies.

Despite Dr. He facing fierce backlash from institutional scientists and bioethicists, some of whom are calling for an international ban on genetically modified children, there appears to be significant interest in gene-edited babies. Independent biohackers operating a “designer babies startup” already have a parent-couple customer, and Dr. He’s former adviser at Stanford University recently revealed that not only did many scientists email Dr. He showing interest in his work, but reputable fertility clinics did so too, and wanted him to give their staff courses on genetically modifying embryos.

As the head of a gene-editing laboratory at the Kulakov National Medical Research Center – which is Russia’s largest fertility clinic, Denis Rebrikov’s interest in gene-edited CRISPR babies is clearly not out of the ordinary.

But Rebrikov’s experiments are not after-the-fact of Dr. He’s CRISPR babies; twin girls named Lulu and Nana, who were born in November 2018. Because in February 2018, Rebrikov had published a study detailing the success his team at the Russian National Research Medical University in Moscow had in creating HIV-resistant embryos using CRISPR.

“Technically, our team could have transplanted embryos before February 2018, and then our genetically modified children would have been born earlier,” Rebrikov told Russian media last year in December, following Dr. He’s announcement on the birth of Lulu and Nana.

Even though like Dr. He, Rebrikov is using CRISPR to knockout the ‘CCR5’ gene which serves as a pathway for HIV to enter the cell, he is using a different medical approach in conferring HIV immunity to embryos. Dr. He had used sperm from HIV positive fathers, but Rebrikov will be using HIV positive mothers who do not respond to anti-HIV drugs, giving his experiments more medical necessity. “This is a clinical situation which calls for this type of therapy,” he told Nature.

Rebrikov, who specializes in molecular biology and genetic engineering, also claims that his approach is safer, offers more benefits and is more ethical than Dr. He’s approach. A relative celebrity in Russia and an effective science communicator, 43 year old Rebrikov says if he gets approval from the Russian government, he will implant gene-edited embryos into would-be mothers before the end of the year.