Three-parent embryo formed in lab

BBC | Feb. 5, 2008

Scientists believe they have made a breakthrough in IVF treatment by creating a human embryo with three separate parents.

The Newcastle University team believe the technique could help to eradicate a whole class of hereditary diseases, including some forms of epilepsy.

The embryos have been created using DNA from a man and two women in lab tests.

It could ensure women with genetic defects do not pass the diseases on to their children.

The technique is intended to help women with diseases of the mitochondria - mini-organs that are found within individual cells.

They are sometimes described as "cellular power plants" because they generate most of the cell's energy.

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