World's First Baby Born from New Three-Parent Method 'Quite Well': Doctor Xinhua
go to original October 20, 2016

'Three-Parent Baby' Boy Healthy So Far (wochit News)

The world's first baby who was born six months ago using a new and controversial technique that incorporates DNA with three parents is now "lovely" and doing "quite well," his doctor told Xinhua.

The baby's birth in Mexico, where the three-parent method is not strictly regulated, was first reported by the New Scientist magazine two weeks ago, but John Zhang of the New Hope Fertility Center in New York, formally presented his findings Wednesday at the American Society of Reproductive Medicine's meeting in Salt Lake City.

"The boy is currently six months old. He is very healthy and doing quite well," Zhang said by phone from the meeting.

When asked if the boy eats, cries and sleeps just like other normal babies, Zhang said: "Yes, he is very lovely."

At issue is an IVF (in-vitro fertilization) technique called spindle nuclear transfer, which Zhang described as "revolutionary" and was designed to prevent women with devastating mitochondrial disease from passing them on to their children.

With this method, Zhang's team first removes the nucleus of the donor egg and replaces it with the nucleus from the mother's egg, thus creating an entirely new egg that is now comprised of DNA from two mothers.

This hybrid egg is then fertilized by the father's sperm to create an embryo, and if deemed normal the resulting embryo will be implanted into the mother.

Mitochondria are known as the powerhouse of cells and can only be passed on from the mother. Mutations in mitochondrial genes can lead to rare, serious diseases that are often fatal in childhood.

Read the rest at Global Times

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!