/ News
Three-person babies 'in two years' - says science review
The technique, using eggs from two women and one man's sperm, would be used to prevent deadly mitochondrial diseases.
The UK fertility regulator said there was no evidence that it would be unsafe, but called for extra checks.
Changes to fertility regulations are being considered by government.
The illnesses are caused by damage to the tiny power stations in every cell of the body called mitochondria.
One in every 6,500 babies are born with severe mitochondrial disease which means they have insufficient energy to function - it leads to muscle weakness, blindness, heart failure and even death.
Mitochondria are passed only from mother to child.
A scientific panel, assembled by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), assessed two advanced forms of IVF using material from three people - the parents to be and a woman with healthy mitochondria.
1) Two eggs are fertilised with sperm, creating an embryo from the intended parents and another from the donors 2) The pronuclei, which contain genetic information, are removed from both embryos but only the parents' is kept 3) A healthy embryo is created by adding the parents' pronuclei to the donor embryo, which is finally implanted into the womb.
Prof Robin Lovell-Badge, from the Medical Research Council and a member of the scientific panel, said: "The direction of travel still suggests that it is all safe, but we don't know what's round the corner so we're being a little cautious."
The HFEA report called for a series of final tests before either of the procedures could be performed.
This would include a more detailed assessment of the efficiency of both proposed techniques when using human eggs or embryos.
The risk to the child and any subsequent generations of mutated mitochondria being transferred during the procedure also need to be investigated in more detail.
"I think that [two years] is not a bad estimation. The other sorts of experiments that we thought were necessary, again it will take about two years to complete all of those."
Prof Andy Greenfield, who chaired the scientific review panel, said safety was "not a straightforward issue".
He added: "Are these techniques safe in humans? We won't know that until it's actually done in humans.
"Until a healthy baby is born we cannot say 100% that these techniques are safe, if you think back to when IVF was a new technology all of these questions were asked before IVF."
Defective mitochondria leave the body with insufficient energy to function
Mitochondria have their own tiny set of DNA, so any resulting children will have genetic material from three people.
The treatments would class as germ-line therapy, causing changes which would be passed down through the generations.
Ethical concerns have been raised and some campaign groups are worried it could be the thin end of the wedge to genetic modification of people.
'As soon as we can'
The UK government has in principle backed three-person babies. The chief medical officer, Prof Dame Sally Davies, said last year: "It's only right that we look to introduce this life-saving treatment as soon as we can."
This scientific review was commissioned by government as part of a wider consultation. The Department of Health will publish its response to the consultation in the coming months and says a firmer timescale for any regulatory changes will be revealed then.
A spokesperson said: "Mitochondrial donation will give women who carry severe mitochondrial disease the opportunity to have children without passing on devastating genetic disorders.
"It will also keep the UK at the forefront of scientific development in this area."
Sarah Norcross, the director of the Progress Educational Trust, said: "The scientific review committee have given a considered thumbs up to allowing techniques to avoid the transmission of inherited mitochondrial disease to be used in clinic.
"We therefore urge the Government to press ahead and pass regulations to allow families blighted by mitochondrial disease to benefit as soon as possible."
Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/health-27678464
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
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