The whereabouts of Chinese scientist He Jiankui, who claims to have created the world's first gene-edited babies, remain unknown amid rumours that he has been arrested.

Reports claimed He was placed under effective house arrest in Shenzhen after making an appearance at the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing in Hong Kong last Wednesday.

However, claims of He's detention were dismissed by his former-employer, Southern University of Science and Technology, according to South China Morning Post. The university declined to elaborate further.

Chinese scientist He Jianjui speaks at the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing at the University of Hong Kong on Wednesday. His whereabouts remain unknown after the summit, according to media reports

The scientist sparked global controversy last week when he announced in a YouTube video that he had successfully used a gene-editing tool to modify the DNA of two embryos.