The UK, June 10, 2016
The BBC reports that the doctor behind a groundbreaking IVF technique which prevents disabling genetic disorders that result from mitochondrial diseases, Professor Douglas Turnbull of Newcastle University, has been knighted.
Turnbull, has spent 40 years researching and treating patients with devastinf mitochondrial diseases. The British Parliament voted last year to allow the IVF treatment to be used. The process, known as “early pronuclear transfer” involves removal of the nuclei of the parental DNA before pronuclear fusion and then transferring these into another women’s fertilized egg which has had its nucleus removed.
A study involving more than 500 eggs from 64 donor women found that the new procedure did not alter embryo development and significantly reduced the passing on of mitochondrial disease. Britain is the first country to approve the procedure, which offers hope to thousands of families around the world otherwise devastated by these diseases.