3-person IVF Archives

FDA chides US doc who genetically modified human embryo in reported 3-person IVF

August 4, 2017 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 1 Comment

The FDA sent a stern letter today to Dr. John Zhang, PhD, MD, the physician who last year created a genetically modified human embryo in the U.S. and then exported it to Mexico where he self-reported creating a genetically modified baby boy. While the genetically modified baby created in Mexico was reportedly seemingly OK, it’s not clear […]

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Mitochondrial Replacement Techniques, the Mexican Case

September 30, 2016 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D.

Earlier this week New Scientist broke the news that the first baby born after Maternal Spindle Transfer (a form of mitochondrial replacement) is already five months old, and even more, he seems to be doing well. Even when John Zhang’s team has achieved a world first, I agree with Dr. Alison Murdoch in that: “The

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Hyped Nature paper & author knighthood 2 days later raise red flags

June 12, 2016 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 4 Comments

Was an intensely hyped Nature paper connected to the subsequent knighthood for one of the authors just two days after publication? It’s hard to imagine there isn’t a connection and such a link is bad news for biomedical science. Professor Doug Turnbull and fellow UK authors published a Nature paper a few days ago that reinforced a

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Mitochondrial Replacement Hype Goes Nuclear Including by Wellcome Trust

June 9, 2016 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 4 Comments

A new paper from a UK team yesterday showed that mitochondrial replacement therapy faces a serious and difficult safety hurdle fitting with similar findings from an earlier recent study from a different team led by Dieter Egli, but the UK media and some scientists there are engaging in hype, claiming the exact opposite. They are pushing the unscientific

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New Herbert lab Nature paper reinforces mitochondrial replacement Achilles heel

June 8, 2016 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 1 Comment

Today a new Nature paper from Dr. Mary Herbert’s group in the UK has found a key problem with mitochondrial replacement therapy that fits with data from others. Mitochondrial replacement data The goal of preventing mitochondrial disease using various kinds of genome transfer technologies is a noble one, but mitochondrial replacement therapy has faced a

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NAS proposes prudent US policy on 3-person IVF

February 3, 2016 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 3 Comments

A new report from the National Academies of Sciences (NAS), Engineering, and Medicine here in the US recommends a policy significantly more cautious on first read for 3-person IVF than that in place now in the UK. My initial take on this new 164-page report is that it is very well thought out and the

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250,000-fold oversight on 3-person IVF mitochondrial transfer?

June 23, 2015 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 4 Comments

Remember the debate over so-called 3-person IVF? The goal of this technology, also referred to as mitochondrial transfer and 3-parent IVF, is to prevent mitochondrial disease through nuclear transfer in oocytes or one-cell embryos. The resulting genetically modified (GM) human embryos and ultimately children if it works could have dodged mitochondrial disease, but also could have serious or

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UK OKs 3-Person IVF: Perspectives

February 25, 2015 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 9 Comments

With the House of Lords vote yesterday, the UK officially became the only country in the world to have legalized human genetic modification via 3-Person IVF. The point of this “mitochondrial transfer” or “3-person IVF” technology is not directly to genetically modify humans specifically, but it still will lead to that result in any case.

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Red flags in Sally Davies letter on 3-person IVF mitochondrial transfer

February 24, 2015 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 9 Comments

There’s been some back and forth between me and some members of the UK Parliament and others in the UK on the issue of mitochondrial transfer or 3-person IVF technology. Some of this has involved the UK equivalent of the Surgeon General, Professor Dame Sally Davies, who at one point apparently called my views “bunk”. I

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Nature Biased News Coverage of 3-Person IVF

February 13, 2015 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 5 Comments

NatureNews is a science news outlet so I’ve been wondering what the heck the deal is with their strongly biased news coverage of the mitochondrial transfer 3-person IVF technology debate. By way of context, I like NatureNews and am a regular reader, but their coverage of the mitochondrial transfer debate has been completely one-sided and inaccurate. Their

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