Six-year-old dies in undisclosed Chinese gene-editing trial; Shanghai university launches investigation

A six-year-old girl referred to as 'Mei' died in 2025 approximately one week after receiving a spinal infusion of engineered viruses as part of an experimental gene-editing trial conducted at a Shanghai Jiao Tong University laboratory, according to a joint investigation by Science and Retraction Watch published on July 23. Her parents paid more than US$800,000 (S$1.03 million) to fund the experiment and were reportedly not fully informed of the risks involved. Lead researcher Zilong Qiu subsequently published a paper on related animal studies in the journal Nature without disclosing Mei's death; the university announced on July 26 that it has formed a special working group to investigate and will take 'serious action' if ethics violations are confirmed.