Let’s file this in the WOW category okay?

via The Telegraph


Babies with three parents possible within three years

Babies with three biological parents could be a reality within three years using an IVF technique which eradicates hereditary disease by using the undamaged DNA of a third party.

snip


Prof Doug Turnbull, who is leading the research, said: “The important thing is that this has the possibility of stopping the disease completely.

“If this technique proves to be as safe as IVF and as effective as the preliminary studies, I think we could totally prevent the transmission of these diseases.”

The technique involves taking one egg from the mother and another from a donor, before removing the nucleus from the donor’s egg and replacing it with the nucleus from the mother, either before or after fertilisation.  

Ivf_1671864c

120121-cell

hat tip Doug Ross

The child would inherit their identity from their mother and father but would take their mitochondrial DNA from the donor, meaning they would have genetic material from three people.

Sir Mark Walport, head of the Wellcome Trust, said the genetic impact of inheriting a third person’s mitochondrial DNA would be as minimal as changing the batteries in a camera.

He said: “We welcome the opportunity to discuss with the public why we believe this technique is essential if we are to give families affected by these diseases the chance to have healthy children, something most of us take for granted.”

This will of course come with a myriad of moral issues, but who cares about those anymore right?  Ugh.

Stacy