A team of doctors from Greece and Spain announced the birth of a healthy baby boy who was conceived via an experimental form of in vitro fertilization (IVF). DNA from the egg of one woman was put into the egg of a donor woman, and then fertilized using the father’s sperm. The procedure, known as maternal spindle transfer, is one of three types of mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT).
The boy was born in Athens, Greece Tuesday weighing 6 pounds. Both the child and the 32-year-old mother are in good health, the doctors said in a statement.
A Spanish company called Embryotools announced the pregnancy in January following the first known trial of the procedure. The study enrolled 25 women under 40 who had been diagnosed with "infertility problems due to poor egg quality,” and who had at least two previous failed IVF attempts. Since the technique wasn’t approved in Spain, the company collaborated with a fertility clinic in Athens called the Institute of Life.
Dr. Panagiotis Psathas, president of the Institute of Life, celebrated the milestone.