The first British baby created using DNA from three people has been born after doctors carried out a groundbreaking IVF procedure that aims to prevent children from inheriting incurable diseases.
The technique, known as mitochondrial donation treatment (MDT), uses tissue from the eggs of healthy female donors to create IVF embryos free of harmful mutations that their mothers carry and are likely to pass on to their children.
Mitochondrial donation treatment is an experimental medical treatment that uses a donor’s mitochondria (the energy-producing organelles in our cells) to replace or supplement a recipient’s mitochondria. This treatment is intended to treat certain genetic disorders caused by mutations in the DNA of the mitochondria.
The process has led to the phrase “three-parent babies,” even though more than 99.8% of the DNA in the babies comes from the mother and father.