'Three-Person IVF' Technique Moves Closer
By BBC,
BBC News
| 01. 19. 2012
It replaces defective genetic material in the egg in order to eliminate rare mitochondrial diseases.
After the consultation into "three-person IVF", ministers will decide whether to allow it in patients.
A £5.8m centre at Newcastle University, funded by the Wellcome Trust, will investigate the technique's safety.
Inherited defects
Mitochondria can be found within almost every human cell, and provide the energy they need to function.
Like the nucleus of the cell, they contain DNA, although in tiny quantities.
Approximately 1 in 5,000 babies is born with inherited defects in their mitochondrial DNA, the effects of which can be very severe, or even fatal, depending on which cells are affected.
Scientists believe they have found a way to substitute the defective mitochondria and hopefully prevent the child from developing a disease.
They take two eggs, one from the mother and another from a donor.
The nucleus of the donor egg is removed, leaving the rest of the egg contents, including the mitochondria, and is replaced with the nucleus from the mother's egg.
The resulting embryo has properly functioning mitochondria from the...
Related Articles
By Fyodor D. Urnov and Sadik H. Kassim, Nature | 04.21.2026
In February, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed a radical rethink of how scientists, physicians and manufacturers develop personalized genetic therapies. The regulator’s suggested introduction of a ‘plausible mechanism pathway’ should increase incentives for drug companies to develop...
By Miguel Muñoz, Cadena SER | 08.04.2026
"Para ellos, una familia numerosa no solo es una preferencia personal, sino que es una obligación. Creen que tener tantos hijos como sea posible es necesario para evitar un futuro apocalíptico", aseguraba Xavier Orri, periodista y cofundador de Página Internacional...
By Ryan Knutson and Jessica Mendoza, The Journal. | 03.27.2026
Genetically engineered babies are banned in the U.S. But that isn’t stopping Silicon Valley tech titans from trying to make one. In this final installment from The Journal’s investigation into the fringes of the fertility industry, WSJ’s Emily Glazer reports...
By Antonio Regalado, MIT Technology Review | 03.30.2026
After operating in secrecy for years, a startup company called R3 Bio, in Richmond, California, suddenly shared details about its work last week—saying it had raised money to create nonsentient monkey “organ sacks” as an alternative to animal testing.
In...
