Eight healthy babies born with DNA from three people in an effort to avoid genetic disease

Researchers in the UK published a study in The New England Journal of Medicine on July 16, reporting that eight healthy babies have been born using mitochondrial replacement therapy, which involves the use of genes from three people, and achieved a 36% success rate.

Developed by Newcastle University and the Newcastle Fertility Center, the procedure transfers the nucleus from a mother's fertilized egg into a donor egg containing healthy mitochondria.

The babies now carry nuclear DNA from both parents and mitochondrial DNA from a third donor.

All children, aged from a few weeks to over two years, are developing normally with no signs of the inherited mitochondrial disease that they were at risk for.