The technique involves intervening in the fertilization process to remove mitochondria, which act as tiny energy-generating batteries inside cells, and which, if faulty, can cause fatal heart problems, liver failure, brain disorders, blindness and muscular dystrophy.
“Mitochondrial donation offers a real opportunity to cure a class of potentially devastating inherited conditions and will bring hope to hundreds of affected families in the UK,” said Dagan Wells, a professor at Oxford University’s biomedical research center and one of many experts welcoming the decision.
The treatment is known as “three-parent” IVF because the babies, born from genetically modified embryos, would have DNA from a mother, a father and from a female donor.
Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust global health charity, said it was a “landmark day for people living with mitochondrial disease”.
From: Britain Agrees to License “Three-Parent” Baby Approach – Scientific American
Britain Agrees to License “Three-Parent” Baby Approach – Scientific American
