Jiankui He was sentenced to three years in prison and given a fine of 3m Yuan for making the twin sisters Lulu and Nana immune to HIV, by using the gene editing procedure CRISPR-Cas9 on the girls embryos. CRISPR-Cas9 is a relatively young technology in biotechnology that is widely being used for precise genome editing. Despite the technology’s precision, its application in products for the consumer market and personalised medicine is still under debate, mainly because of the need for rigorous testing of consequential long-term effects of the technology. Hence, Dr. He’s announcement of the gene-edited twins shocked the scientific community. The synthetic biology community has long debated the need for robust public dialogue about the use of CRISPR-Cas9 and how governance models can ensure safe, responsible research. The court in Shenzhen found Dr. He and two of his colleagues guilty of “illegal medical practice, as they did not have the proper certification to practise medicine, and in seeking fame and wealth, deliberately violated national regulations in scientific research and medical treatment”. In its sentence, the court further added, “They’ve crossed the line of ethics in scientific research and medicine”. Join us for an evening to discuss, share your views, understand others opinions and debate the ethical implications of this technology and its applications.