What is a “three-person baby”?

The UK is likely to be the first country to allow the creation of babies via the three-person IVF technique but, what is three-person IVF and why is it necessary?

Why do we need three-person IVF?

Your body is made up of trillions of cells with each cell being specialised to perform a specific function. To do this cells need organelles, just as your whole body needs organs. One such organelle is a mitochondrion (plural mitochondria) which is often referred to as the power house of the cell as it is responsible for taking sugar from our food and converting it into energy.

This energy is created in the form of a molecule called ATP. ATP is vital for everything we need to do. We need it to breath, we need it to move and we even need it for our brain to function properly.

To be able to efficiently produce ATP mitochondria have their own genetic information which is passed down to the next generation via a mother’s egg cell. Mutations in these genes making it so that the mitochondria aren’t as proficient at producing ATP lead to mitochondrial diseases which are estimated to affect 1 in 6500 new born babies.

As mitochondria play a huge role in the cell you can imagine how devastating these diseases can be with symptoms including epilepsy, diabetes, deafness, blindness, muscle weakness and many more. Therefore, a woman who has a mitochondrial disease and wants to have children is faced with a massive dilemma.

Professor Doug Turnbull, director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Mitochondrial Research, at Newcastle University, said: “Patients get progressively worse and many die so prevention is one of our priorities. Treatment is a long way off but, if we are able to use these techniques we can prevent these diseases now.”

How do you create a “three-person baby”?

There are two methods by which a “three-person baby” can be created: embryo repair and egg repair.

Diagram showing the method of embryo repair.

In embryo repair two embryos are created by fertilising both the mother’s and the donor’s egg cells. The pronuclei, containing the parents’ genetic information, are then removed from the embryos. The donor pronuclei are destroyed whilst the parents’ pronuclei are transferred into the donor embryo which can then develop into a child with healthy mitochondria.

Diagram showing the method of egg repair.

In egg repair the mother’s and the donor’s nuclei are removed from the egg cells. The mother’s nucleus is then transferred into the donor egg cell. This can then be fertilised using the father’s sperm to create a healthy embryo.

“Slippery slope”

A child born via three-person IVF will contain DNA from three people with donor DNA accounting for 0.1% of the overall genetic information. For some this is worrying as they feel that it could be the start of a “slippery slope” leading to the genetic engineering of babies and the start of a new eugenics.

In response to this Prof. Turnbull said: “This technique has been put through a rigorous process which started in 2010 and it is now 2014. It has been put through public consultation, ethical review and scientific review.” He also added that he did not “want to go down a slippery slope” and to avoid this it was being looked at carefully.

Is it safe?

There is still the question of safety to answer. Prof. Turnbull said: “Anything first into man has got to be a risk. What we must always remember and weigh up is the risks of a woman having an unhealthy child.”

So far the three-person IVF technique in rodents and primates has had “very positive outcomes” however, there are still some hurdles to overcome. Embryos made using this technique need to be assessed to check they develop normally. Moreover, the technique is yet to be tested to check it is efficient as if only 1 embryo out of 100 survives this technique will not be considered “good enough.”

When will three-person IVF be licensed in the UK?

Work is ongoing to get three-person IVF licensed to be carried out in the UK however, there are still a couple of procedures to go through before this can happen. The first is that three-person IVF needs to be approved by UK parliament. Secondly, any unit that wishes to carry out three-person IVF needs a license from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to make sure it is as safe as can be.

Considering all these factors Prof. Turnbull said: “one can hope that this technique will be feasible in the next couple of years.”

We Are All Scientists

I took today’s blog title from a newspaper headline. Admittedly I didn’t read the article despite it sounding intriguing as I was trying to stuff my lunch down my throat so that I could get back to the lab. However, it got me thinking about how science really is in everyone’s life even if it doesn’t appear directly.

The example we can all relate to is that we are human. We are animals made of trillions of cells- not including microbes. There are 7 billion of us fighting for our ecological niche in a world which will still don’t fully understand. Moreover, we use science to safely raise our families. This is demonstrated in the story of Adelaide Hoodless who was part of the formation of the first Women’s Institute in Stoney Creek, Canada to educate women about hygiene after her son died from “summer complaint” which could have been prevented if she had known how to safely store milk.

I personally find all these things fascinating hence why I’ve decided to take on the rewarding, yet sometimes frustrating, task of trying to decipher the human brain. It’s a task that I can promise you I won’t finish in my lifetime but, I have to say I am comforted by that thought as I love questions so it would make for a miserable retirement if there wasn’t anything to ask or answer.

We are a naturally inquisitive species who are not just happy with knowing, we want understanding too. This is seen in children asking their parents endless questions of why- apologies Mum and Dad. Children also provide another perfect example in the miniature, often meticulously planned experiments that they run whilst us adults sit and look perplexed as they set ants on fire with a magnifying glass.

Socially unacceptable experiments don’t just stop with children though. A lot of scientists have stood on many people’s toes throughout history. Galileo was imprisoned after boldly stating that the earth was not at the centre of the solar system and Charles Darwin still doesn’t go down too well with Creationists today. Some experiments have even led to grave consequences with fears associated with clinical trials and certain methods of warfare casting a dark shadow over science.

As with everything though we learn from our mistakes and go forward so that science can be used to create a more comfortable world to live in- without using too much of its resources. This is why it is so important to educate people about science. I was lucky, I had fantastic science teachers at my school which I believe set me up brilliantly for my career so far. In Britain we are also well provided for with free museums, science in the media and most people having access to the internet.

However, some fundamental science basics are still lacking. I was surprised to learn that many people don’t know what a mitochondrion is (for those of you who don’t know I’ll tell you in my next blog). This may seem trivial now but it isn’t for someone who has been diagnosed with a mitochondrial disorder. People diagnosed with heart disease would also benefit from a basic knowledge of how the circulatory system works and there are many more examples not just relating to the medical sciences.

Therefore, we still have work to do to provide all of us with fundamental scientific knowledge. So, we should keep children asking questions and we shouldn’t be afraid of the questions we can’t answer. After all if you can’t answer the question it’s either because you don’t know or nobody knows, and when nobody knows that when it gets interesting.