Eight babies made in Britain using three people's DNA; Newborns are free of genetic disease

Time of India

17-07-2025

British scientists recently shared a historic medical breakthrough with the rest of the world: eight healthy babies were born free of mitochondrial disease using the technique, known as 'three‑person IVF', a sophisticated form of mitochondrial donation.
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The three-person IVF technique blends the nuclear DNA of both parents with healthy mitochondria from a donor egg to eradicate hereditary mitochondrial disorders, conditions that can trigger debilitating organ failure, seizures, and premature death.
Conducted at Newcastle University under strict UK licensing, the procedure treated 22 women deemed high-risk. All eight infants are born healthy, thriving without signs of disease, marking a pivotal advancement in reproductive medicine and offering fresh hope to families facing genetic uncertainty.
The medical marvel: How the mitochondrial donation treatment works
Mitochondrial donation, often termed 'three‑person IVF', transfers the pronuclei of a fertilized egg (containing nuclear DNA from both parents) into a donor egg stripped of its nucleus but intact with healthy mitochondria. The result: an embryo with parental genetic traits and healthy mitochondria from the donor egg.
By replacing defective energy-producing mitochondria, this method targets severe, multisystem diseases before they can begin.
It's designed for cases where standard pre-implantation genetic testing (PGT) falls short because all of a woman's eggs carry damaging mitochondrial mutations.
Since mitochondria have their own small genome (just 37 genes among ~20,000), only 0.02–1% of the baby's DNA comes from the donor, insufficient to affect traits like appearance, personality, or other inherited characteristics.
The scientific breakthrough: The clinical results
The study, carried out at Newcastle University's fertility center under license from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), involved 22 women at high risk of passing on mitochondrial disorders.
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Key points:
Seven pregnancies were successful, resulting in eight infants – four boys and four girls, including one set of twins, with one additional ongoing pregnancy.
None of the babies shows signs of mitochondrial disease. Five had no detectable mutated mitochondria, while three infants had low levels (5–16%), far below the threshold (~80%) needed to cause clinical symptoms.
All babies are meeting developmental milestones and developing normally, with only minor, treatable health issues reported in three cases, none linked to mitochondrial causes.
These findings were published in the
New England Journal of Medicine
, reinforcing the method as a safe and effective alternative for families facing mitochondrial disorders
Notably, Britain became the first country to legalize mitochondrial donation in 2015, with implementation overseen by the UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) since 2017 – restricting implementation to a single clinic.
Each case is individually reviewed, and only women at high genetic risk are approved. As of July 2025, approximately 35 patients have been cleared by the HFEA to undergo the therapy.
Although the groundbreaking treatment offers real hope to families affected by mitochondrial disorders. One advocate, whose child died from such a disease, experts, including bioethicists and reproductive scientists, issue caution, emphasizing the need for ongoing monitoring, given that mitochondrial DNA changes are heritable, and girls born via the method will pass the donor mitochondria to their own children.
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