Clinic Claims Success In Making Babies With 3 Parents' DNA
Jun 6, 2018 12:06:20 GMT -5
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Post by ππΏMΓΆrΓΆnππΏ on Jun 6, 2018 12:06:20 GMT -5
www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/06/06/615909572/inside-the-ukrainian-clinic-making-3-parent-babies-for-women-who-are-infertile
Interesting implications for the future. I'm not sure if this has been done before but I'm sure it'll be a common thing in the future.
To show how the procedure works, Zukin sends me upstairs to the embryo lab. After putting on a sterile blue gown and booties, I meet Pavlo Mazur, a clinic embryo scientist.
"We will begin," Mazur says, as he takes a clear plastic dish out of an incubator.
The dish contains a 1-day-old embryo. It was created by fertilizing the egg of a woman with sperm from her male partner.
The dish also holds a second embryo. This was made using the same man's sperm to fertilize an egg from another woman, who was paid to donate eggs.
After sliding the embryos under a large microscope, Mazur starts a timer. He has only 15 minutes to complete the delicate procedure without risking damage to the embryos.
A monitor nearby displays what Mazur sees through the microscope. A round structure comes into focus on the screen. It's one of the embryos.
"You see?" Mazur says, pointing to two smaller round structures inside. They contain the DNA of the man and woman trying to have a baby.
"One is from sperm. It's paternal," Mazur says. "And the second one is maternal."
Mazur slowly inserts a tiny, hollow glass needle into the fertilized egg. Even though Mazur is under pressure to work fast, he can't move too quickly.
"Very steady and slow," Mazur says. "We don't want to damage it, right? We want it to survive."
He uses the needle to extract the would-be parents' DNA. Mazur does the same thing with the second fertilized egg, removing all the DNA β except for 37 genes known as mitochondrial DNA.
Mitochondria provide energy for eggs. A defect in the patient's mitochondrial DNA might be what's preventing her from getting pregnant. So using the donor's mitochondrial DNA may be what enables the patient to produce healthy embryos and babies.
"We will begin," Mazur says, as he takes a clear plastic dish out of an incubator.
The dish contains a 1-day-old embryo. It was created by fertilizing the egg of a woman with sperm from her male partner.
The dish also holds a second embryo. This was made using the same man's sperm to fertilize an egg from another woman, who was paid to donate eggs.
After sliding the embryos under a large microscope, Mazur starts a timer. He has only 15 minutes to complete the delicate procedure without risking damage to the embryos.
A monitor nearby displays what Mazur sees through the microscope. A round structure comes into focus on the screen. It's one of the embryos.
"You see?" Mazur says, pointing to two smaller round structures inside. They contain the DNA of the man and woman trying to have a baby.
"One is from sperm. It's paternal," Mazur says. "And the second one is maternal."
Mazur slowly inserts a tiny, hollow glass needle into the fertilized egg. Even though Mazur is under pressure to work fast, he can't move too quickly.
"Very steady and slow," Mazur says. "We don't want to damage it, right? We want it to survive."
He uses the needle to extract the would-be parents' DNA. Mazur does the same thing with the second fertilized egg, removing all the DNA β except for 37 genes known as mitochondrial DNA.
Mitochondria provide energy for eggs. A defect in the patient's mitochondrial DNA might be what's preventing her from getting pregnant. So using the donor's mitochondrial DNA may be what enables the patient to produce healthy embryos and babies.
Interesting implications for the future. I'm not sure if this has been done before but I'm sure it'll be a common thing in the future.
