This week, a team of fertility doctors reported a first: a baby born using genetic material from three parents. The mother carried a genetic disorder in the DNA of one of the components of her cells, the mitochondria. To allow the couple to have a healthy child, free of the mother’s mutation, the fertility doctors combined the mother’s genetic material with mitochondria from a donor. The baby was born five months ago. Jeffrey Botkin, chief of medical ethics at the University of Utah School of Medicine, served on a committee of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine to draft ethical considerations for such procedures. He is available to comment on the issues surrounding three-parent babies. To arrange an interview, contact science writer Paul Gabrielsen.
Paul Gabrielsen | 801-505-8253 | paul.gabrielsen@utah.edu