X
theAsianparent Logo
theAsianparent Logo
Product GuideSign in
  • Pregnancy
    • Due date calculator
    • I'm pregnant
    • Trying To Conceive
    • Labour
    • After birth
    • Baby loss
  • Parenting
    • Parenting & Play by Friso
    • Parent's Guide
    • Relationship & Sex
  • Ages & Stages
    • Baby
    • Toddler
    • Pre-schooler
    • Kids
    • Pre-teen & Teen
  • Feeding & Nutrition
    • Diseases-Injuries
    • Breastfeeding & Formula
    • Meal Planner
    • Health
    • Allergies & Conditions
    • Vaccinations
  • Education
    • Pre-School
    • Primary School
    • Secondary School
    • Primary School Directory
  • Lifestyle
    • Money
    • Travel & Leisure
    • Fashion
    • Home
    • Fitness
    • Contests & promotions
  • News
    • International
    • Health
    • Celebrity
    • Singapore
  • Money Parenting
    • Tips for Parents
    • Tips for Toddlers
    • Tips for Older Kids
    • The 5 Personas
  • TAP Recommends
  • Shopping
  • Press Releases
  • Project Sidekicks
  • Community
  • Advertise With Us
  • Contact Us
  • Become A Contributor
  • VIP

This baby, born using a revolutionary new technique, has THREE parents!

4 Oct, 2016
This baby, born using a revolutionary new technique, has THREE parents!This baby, born using a revolutionary new technique, has THREE parents!

A brand new procedure developed by doctors in the US has led to the birth of a healthy baby boy

A baby with three parents has been born with a game-changing technique. New Scientist reports that five months ago, a baby boy was born to a Jordanian couple who had been trying to start a family for almost two decades. The mom became pregnant after 10 years of marriage, but she ended up having a miscarriage—the first of four.

She finally gave birth to a baby girl in 2005, and the couple discovered the reason behind their difficulty conceiving. The mother carried the genes for Leigh syndrome, a rare disorder that affects the central nervous system of infants and usually proves fatal within 2 to 3 years. Though the mother is perfectly healthy, the couple’s first two children died at the ages of 6 years and 8 months, respectively.

The couple asked for the help of Dr. John Zhang from the New Hope Fertility Center in New York City, who was researching ways of using the “three-parent” technique or spindle nuclear transfer to avoid diseases.

The procedure has been approved in the UK, but is still being considered in the US, according to Yahoo! Finance. And so, Zhang and his team went to Mexico, where medical procedures aren’t as strictly regulated.

“To save lives is the ethical thing to do,” he explained to New Science.

Read more about this amazing procedure on the next page.

Babies have been born with DNA from three parents before, but never before with the method that Zhang and his team used. The two earlier methods were cytoplasmic transfer, which was used in the ‘90s before it was halted because of safety and ethical concerns; and pronuclear transfer, which entails swapping nuclei after the mother’s and the donor’s eggs have been fertilized.

The pronuclear transfer was the method that has been approved in the UK, but was not suitable for the couple because it entailed destroying embryos. And so Zhang developed the spindle nuclear transfer, which removes the nucleus from the mother’s eggs then inserts it into a donor egg before fertilization.

“This is a milestone technique”

three parent babies

Photo: Dreamstime

This procedure avoids destroying embryos, and is thus more ethical than the previous two techniques. “It’s as good as or better than what we’ll do in the UK,” Sian Harding told New Scientist (Harding reviewed the ethics of the approved UK procedure).

Zhang and his team tested the baby boy’s mitchondria and found that less than 1% carry the Leigh syndrome mutation. Because it is believed that it takes 18% of mitochondria to cause problems, this is a good sign.

“This is a milestone technique,” Zhang told The Daily Mail. “It proves for the first time that genetic information from three people can avoid disease. We now know reconstitution of human eggs can produce a healthy baby. No other technique has been established.”

Be sure to check out theAsianparent Community for more insightful stories, questions, and answers from parents and experts alike. If you have any insights, questions or comments regarding the topic, please share them in our Comment box below.

Partner Stories
Singapore's Dengue Cases Surpass The 35,000 Mark, Highest Since 2013
Singapore's Dengue Cases Surpass The 35,000 Mark, Highest Since 2013
Typhoon Haiyan relief effort
Typhoon Haiyan relief effort
What parents can learn from the Boston bombings
What parents can learn from the Boston bombings
The brainy bunch - 6 siblings begin college by age 12!
The brainy bunch - 6 siblings begin college by age 12!

Got a parenting concern? Read articles or ask away and get instant answers on our app. Download theAsianparent Community on iOS or Android now!

img
Written by

Cristina Morales

  • Home
  • /
  • News
  • /
  • This baby, born using a revolutionary new technique, has THREE parents!
Share:
  • Potty Train Your Child Using This Revolutionary Technique in Just 3 Days!

    Potty Train Your Child Using This Revolutionary Technique in Just 3 Days!

  • Understanding how a Blastocyst Transfer improves your fertility

    Understanding how a Blastocyst Transfer improves your fertility

  • "It was like a bad movie." Family of 5 Jumps Off From Their Apartment in Switzerland

    "It was like a bad movie." Family of 5 Jumps Off From Their Apartment in Switzerland

  • 5 Ways A Narcissistic Parent Can Negatively Affect A Child's Personality

    5 Ways A Narcissistic Parent Can Negatively Affect A Child's Personality

app info
get app banner
  • Potty Train Your Child Using This Revolutionary Technique in Just 3 Days!

    Potty Train Your Child Using This Revolutionary Technique in Just 3 Days!

  • Understanding how a Blastocyst Transfer improves your fertility

    Understanding how a Blastocyst Transfer improves your fertility

  • "It was like a bad movie." Family of 5 Jumps Off From Their Apartment in Switzerland

    "It was like a bad movie." Family of 5 Jumps Off From Their Apartment in Switzerland

  • 5 Ways A Narcissistic Parent Can Negatively Affect A Child's Personality

    5 Ways A Narcissistic Parent Can Negatively Affect A Child's Personality

Get advice on your pregnancy and growing baby. Sign up for our newsletter
  • Pregnancy
    • Baby
    • Education
    • Events
    • Allergies & Conditions
  • Family Occasions
    • Breastfeeding & Formula
    • Child Safety
    • Health
    • Diseases-Injuries
  • Lifestyle
    • Home
    • Money
    • Feeding & Nutrition
    • Diet & Weightloss
  • Normal Delivery
    • Cesarean Delivery
    • Behaviour
    • Secondary School
    • Formula Feeding
  • Ages & Stages
    • Latching & Concerns
    • Festivals & Holidays
    • Education
    • Pre-teen & Teen
  • More
    • TAP Community
    • Advertise With Us
    • Contact Us
    • Become a Contributor


  • Singapore flag Singapore
  • Thailand flag Thailand
  • Indonesia flag Indonesia
  • Philippines flag Philippines
  • Malaysia flag Malaysia
  • Sri-Lanka flag Sri Lanka
  • India flag India
  • Vietnam flag Vietnam
  • Australia flag Australia
  • Japan flag Japan
  • Nigeria flag Nigeria
  • Kenya flag Kenya
© Copyright theAsianparent 2022. All rights reserved
About Us|Team|Privacy Policy|Terms of Use |Sitemap HTML
  • Tools
  • Articles
  • Feed
  • Poll

We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience. Learn MoreOk, Got it

We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience. Learn MoreOk, Got it

theAsianparent heart icon
We’d like to send you notifications for the latest news and lifestyle updates.