GENEVA (AP) — An expert committee convened by the World Health Organization is calling for the U.N. health agency to create a database of scientists working on gene editing.

The recommendation was announced Tuesday after a two-day meeting in Geneva to examine the scientific, ethical, social and legal challenges of such research.

Last year, a Chinese researcher rocked the scientific community with his announcement that he had made the world's first gene-edited babies, altering the DNA of twin girls to try to make them resistant to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

WHO's announcement comes after an international group of scientists and ethicists called for a temporary ban on gene-edited babies in the journal Nature last week.