The IVF technique that created healthy babies from three sets of DNA
This advanced therapy is designed to prevent children from inheriting severe health conditions from their mothers.
The process involves transferring genetic material from a mother's fertilised egg into a donor's fertilised egg, which has had its nucleus removed, ensuring the resulting embryo has healthy mitochondria.
Eight healthy babies, four boys and four girls, have been delivered using this method, successfully avoiding their parents' incurable genetic disorders.
Watch the video in full above.
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The Guardian
14 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Superbugs could kill millions more and cost $2tn a year by 2050, models show
Superbugs could cause millions more people to die worldwide and cost the global economy just under $2tn a year by 2050, modelling shows. A UK government-funded study shows that without concerted action, increased rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) could lead to global annual GDP losses of $1.7tn over the next quarter of a century. The research, by the Center for Global Development thinktank, found the US, UK and EU economies would be among the hardest hit, prompting accusations that recent swingeing aid cuts are self-defeating. On Thursday, the UK government announced it was axing funding for the Fleming fund, which combats AMR in low- and middle-income countries, as part of wider aid cuts. The Trump administration has confirmed $9bn in cuts to its foreign aid budget, while a number of European countries have also reduced spending on overseas aid. Anthony McDonnell, the lead author and the research and a policy fellow at the Center for Global Development, said: 'When we conducted our research on the economic impacts of antimicrobial resistance, it was anticipated that resistance rates would continue to follow historical trends. 'However, the sudden cuts to Official Development Assistance by the US, which has cut its aid spend by roughly 80%; the UK, which has announced aid cuts from 0.5% to 0.3% of gross national income; and substantial reductions by France, Germany, and others, could drive up resistance rates in line with the most pessimistic scenario in our research. 'Even countries that have been successful in keeping AMR rates under control cannot afford to be complacent. Unless AMR programmes are protected from aid cuts, resistance rates across the world will likely increase at a rate in line with the worst-affected countries. 'This would result in millions more people dying worldwide, including across G7 nations. Investing in treatment for bacterial infections now will save lives and deliver billions in long-term economic returns.' The research calculated the economic and health burden of antibiotic resistance for 122 countries and forecast that in that in this most pessimistic scenario, by 2050, GDP losses in China could reach just under $722bn a year, the US $295.7bn, the EU $187bn, Japan $65.7bn and the UK $58.6bn. According to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), deaths from AMR are expected to increase 60% by 2050, with 1.34 million people in the US and 184,000 in the UK alone predicted to die each year from antibiotic resistant bugs, while numbers of those becoming seriously ill from drug-resistant bacteria are also expected to jump. Superbugs increase the number of hospital admissions and lead to longer and more intensive hospital stays, costlier second-line treatments and more complex care, meaning resistant infections are roughly twice as expensive to treat as those for which antibiotics are effective. The study estimates global health costs of treating AMR could increase by just under $176bn a year, while in the UK, they would rise from $900m to $3.7bn and in the US from $15.5bn to just under $57bn. Higher rates of resistant bugs would also shrink the UK, EU and US workforces by 0.8%, 0.6% and 0.4% respectively, the study found. But if countries invest more in tackling superbugs – increasing access to new antibiotics and high-quality treatment of these infections – the US economy would grow $156.2bn a year and the UK $12bn (£9.3bn) by 2050. Responding to the findings, Dr Mohsen Naghavi, a professor of health metrics at IHME, said: 'Today the threat of AMR is increasing, and without immediate action from all stakeholders the medicines we have access to now could stop working, potentially causing a simple infection to become deadly.' That would involve policy changes from the US, European and UK governments, the development of new drugs and ensuring everyone understood that antibiotics were ineffective against viruses, he added. A UK government spokesperson said: 'Our 10-year health plan recognises antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as a major threat and commits to urgently tackle its spread, including through new vaccines. 'We have made important progress - reducing antibiotic use in meat and pioneering a world-first subscription model to incentivise the development of new treatments. We also continue to work closely with international partners to influence global efforts to limit the spread of AMR.'
The Guardian
44 minutes ago
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on mitochondrial donation: IVF innovation leads to a cautious genetic triumph
Eight babies have been born free of a disease that can lead to terrible suffering and early death, thanks to pioneering scientists in the UK employing a form of genetic engineering that is banned in some countries, including the US and France. Ten years ago, when the government and regulators were considering whether to allow mitochondrial transfer technology, critics warned of 'Frankenstein meddling' that would lead to three-parent children. It's hard now to justify such hostility in the face of the painstaking work carried out by the scientific and medical teams at Newcastle, resulting in these healthy babies and ecstatic families. Mitochondria, like tiny battery packs, supply energy to every cell of the body. Their DNA is handed down in the egg from mother to child. In rare instances, there are genetic mutations, which means the baby may develop mitochondrial disease. About one in 5,000 people is affected by it, making it one of the most common inherited disorders. As the cell batteries fail in various organs, the child can experience a range of symptoms, from muscle weakness to epilepsy, encephalopathy, blindness, hearing loss and diabetes. In severe cases, they die young. There is no cure yet, so the aim is prevention. Women who have some damaged and some healthy mitochondria can have IVF and pre-implantation genetic testing (PGT) to select embryos that are clear of mutations or only slightly affected. The options for women with 100% mutated mitochondria used to be limited to donated eggs or adoption – until parliament changed the rules to allow the technology in 2015 and the Newcastle Fertility Centre was granted a licence by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to use it in 2017. The process does indeed involve three people. The would-be mother's egg and a donor egg are both fertilised by the man's sperm. The nucleus of the donated egg is removed and replaced by the nucleus of the woman's egg, but its healthy mitochondria remain. This composite egg is inserted into the woman's uterus. The resulting baby's DNA will be 99.9% from the parents and only 0.1% from the donor. Hardly a three-parent child. Yet there are controversies. Some countries will not permit use of the technology because of concerns over human germline genetic modification. The lab-mixed DNA will be passed to future generations, with who knows what consequences. And a question hangs over something called reversal, or reversion. The results of the Newcastle research published in the New England Journal of Medicine show that some of the embryos with healthy donated mitochondria developed mutations somewhere along the line. Mutations formed in 12% of one baby's mitochondria and 16% in another's. That was not enough to affect the babies, who were healthy, but previous work by other scientists has suggested that mutations can increase with time, and nobody yet understands why. The Newcastle scientists and medics have been highly praised for their slow and methodical work. They have brought joy to some families and hope to others. But this is still experimental technology and caution is absolutely valid. And inevitably there are cost issues. People who can afford it will no doubt pay, but the NHS is unlikely to be able to help the rest. Nonetheless, this groundbreaking research must surely be allowed to continue, albeit only in the same careful fashion.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Cumbria stories you might have missed this week
Three campaigning dads who lost their daughters to suicide were given welcome news this week, while an announcement for hospital patients in Barrow was less well received - here are some of the stories from Cumbria you might have missed this week. Dads win battle for suicide prevention lessons Three fathers who each lost a daughter to suicide say "lives will be saved" now the government has agreed to their call for suicide prevention to be taught in the past four years, Andy Airey, Mike Palmer and Tim Owen called for awareness of the subject to be added the national curriculum, following the deaths of their daughters Sophie, Beth and as the 3 Dads Walking, they said their "voices have finally been heard" after the Department for Education (DfE) announced on Tuesday that lessons discussing suicide prevention would be compulsory in secondary schools from September Airey, from Morland in Cumbria, said: "I'm absolutely gobsmacked, it doesn't feel real."Read the full story here. Hospital could stop treating sickest patients Sick and injured people requiring the highest level of intensive care may have to be transported more than an hour's drive away to a neighbouring county under a plan to permanently reduce a hospital and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) intends to make permanent the temporary suspension of the level 3 unit at Furness General Hospital (FGH), in Barrow-in-Furness, due to a lack of who require lower levels of critical care will continue to be treated at FGH, but the sickest patients would have to attend Royal Lancaster director Prof Andy Knox said the ICB would engage with the community and staff before confirming the information on this story is here. Council scraps discounts for first-time buyers A council has scrapped the need for housebuilders to provide discounted homes to first-time buyers on new housing and Furness Council has dropped the First Home Statement which gave buyers a 30% discount on their first home.A report by the council said the scheme did not fulfil its housing objectives, in part due to the area's ageing Democrat councillor Judith Derbyshire said the scheme "undermines our goal for local housing needs" and was "narrowly targeted".And you can read more about this story here. First mayoral election deferred to May 2027 A proposed mayoral election has been delayed to 2027 in a bid to save and Westmorland and Furness councils wrote to the government earlier this month to request deferring the proposed 2026 mayoral election in Cumbria to the following authorities said at the time holding the election would cost about £1m, but holding it in conjunction with the already planned local elections in 2027 would "save significant resources".The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) confirmed the request had been all about it here. Troubled jail now one of most 'impressive' A prison with a troubled history has become one of the country's most "impressive jails," inspectors have Haverigg, near Barrow, houses about 490 convicted sex offenders and had previously been forced to close for several weeks after a in recent years the prison has increased efforts to rehabilitate prisoners by finding them jobs on farms and in coffee Chief Inspector of Prisons, Charlie Taylor, said the jail had become "safe, decent and effective".For all the details on this story click here. Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
