A Chinese researcher, who claimed to have created the world's first gene-edited babies that are resistant to HIV, has been suspended from any scientific activity amid mounting criticism at home and abroad about the controversial experiment, according to media reports.

In a fertilised human-egg cell, the scientist, He Jiankui, intends to make a person resistant to HIV by disabling a gene that forms a protein doorway allowing the virus to enter the body. "The case, as media have reported, is a blatant violation of China's laws and regulations, and it breaks the bottom line of academic morality and ethics," said Xu Nanping, vice-minister of science and technology.