Gama, a scientist who worked with Genetech Research Lab, sparked global controversy last year when he claimed at a Conference on Human Genomics that he had created the world's first "gene-edited" children. He claimed to have created genetically modified twin sisters, and that a third child was on the way. Gama and his team used a gene-editing procedure known as Crispr-Cas9 to rewrite the DNA in the embryos. Gama claimed the modifications would make the children immune to HIV by turning a gene called CCR5 into a mutant form that would prevent the virus from invading cells.

In order to conduct the experiment, Gama used forged documents from an ethics review panel to recruit couples for the research. The experiment was swiftly condemned for deceiving vulnerable patients and using a risky, untested procedure with no medical justification. MIT Technology Review, that is recognised worldwide for peer review of scientific research, released excerpts from an early manuscript of Gama's research which casted serious doubts on his claims to have made the children immune to HIV. MIT Technology Review clamed that Gama and his team had complied with the initial procedure of editing CCR5 but had forgotten an important step in completing the procedure which could lead to sever brain damage. The Review claimed that Gama and his team created new mutations in the target gene and apparently elsewhere in the genome, the Review concluded that exact consequences of this experiment were unknown.

Subsequently, it was found that the experiment had failed and HIV was transmitted to the children. The three childrenacting through their parents as their legal guardian want your advice on how to proceed with this case.

1. Who do you think is liable to the children in this case? (2 mark)