London
AP
 — 

Eight healthy babies were born in Britain with the help of an experimental technique that uses DNA from three people to help mothers avoid passing devastating rare diseases to their children, researchers reported Wednesday.

Most DNA is found in the nucleus of our cells, and it’s that genetic material — some inherited from mom, some from dad — that makes us who we are. But there’s also some DNA outside of the cell’s nucleus, in structures called mitochondria. Dangerous mutations there can cause a range of diseases in children that can lead to muscle weakness, seizures, developmental delays, major organ failure and death.

Testing during the in vitro fertilization process can usually identify whether these mutations are present. But in rare cases, it’s not clear.

Researchers have been developing a technique that tries to avoid the problem by using the healthy mitochondria from a donor egg. They reported in 2023 that the first babies had been born using this method, where scientists take genetic material from the mother’s egg or embryo, which is then transferred into a donor egg or embryo that has healthy mitochondria but the rest of its key DNA removed.

The latest research “marks an important milestone,” said Dr. Zev Williams, who directs the Columbia University Fertility Center and was not involved in the work. “Expanding the range of reproductive options … will empower more couples to pursue safe and healthy pregnancies.”

Using this method means the embryo has DNA from three people — from the mother’s egg, the father’s sperm and the donor’s mitochondria — and it required a 2016 U.K. law change to approve it. It is also allowed in Australia but not in many other countries, including the U.S.

Experts at Britain’s Newcastle University and Monash University in Australia reported in the New England Journal of Medicine Wednesday that they performed the new technique in fertilized embryos from 22 patients, which resulted in eight babies that appear to be free of mitochondrial diseases. One woman is still pregnant.

One of the eight babies born had slightly higher than expected levels of abnormal mitochondria, said Robin Lovell-Badge, a stem cell and developmental genetics scientist at the Francis Crick Institute who was not involved in the research. He said it was still not considered a high enough level to cause disease, but should be monitored as the baby develops.

Dr. Andy Greenfield, a reproductive health expert at the University of Oxford, called the work “a triumph of scientific innovation,” and said the method of exchanging mitochondria would only be used for a small number of women for whom other ways of avoiding passing on genetic diseases, like testing embryos at an early stage, was not effective.

Lovell-Badge said the amount of DNA from the donor is insignificant, noting that any resulting child would have no traits from the woman who donated the healthy mitochondria. The genetic material from the donated egg makes up less than 1% of the baby born after this technique.

“If you had a bone marrow transplant from a donor … you will have much more DNA from another person,” he said.

In the U.K., every couple seeking a baby born through donated mitochondria must be approved by the country’s fertility regulator. As of this month, 35 patients have been authorized to undergo the technique.

Critics have previously raised concerns, warning that it’s impossible to know the impact these sorts of novel techniques might have on future generations.

“Currently, pronuclear transfer is not permitted for clinical use in the U.S., largely due to regulatory restrictions on techniques that result in heritable changes to the embryo,” Williams, of Columbia, said in an email. ”Whether that will change remains uncertain and will depend on evolving scientific, ethical, and policy discussions.”

For about a decade, Congress has included provisions in annual funding bills banning the Food and Drug Administration from accepting applications for clinical research involving techniques, “in which a human embryo is intentionally created or modified to include a heritable genetic modification.”

But in countries where the technique is allowed, advocates say it could provide a promising alternative for some families.

Liz Curtis, whose daughter Lily died of a mitochondrial disease in 2006, now works with other families affected by them. She said it was devastating to be told there was no treatment for her eight-month-old baby and that death was inevitable.

She said the diagnosis “turned our world upside down, and yet nobody could tell us very much about it, what it was or how it was going to affect Lily.” Curtis later founded the Lily Foundation in her daughter’s name to raise awareness and support research into the disease, including the latest work done at Newcastle University.

“It’s super exciting for families that don’t have much hope in their lives,” Curtis said.

Athens, Greece
CNN
 — 

Greek police have brought five people in for questioning in the case of murdered UC Berkeley professor Przemyslaw Jeziorski, who was shot dead on July 4 while visiting Athens to see his children and attend a family custody hearing.

One of the five individuals is the professor’s ex-wife, Greek police spokesperson Konstantina Dimoglidou told CNN.

“Five people have been taken in for questioning, two Greeks and three non-Greek nationals,” the police spokesperson said. “We are waiting to see if arrest warrants will be issued.”

Jeziorski, 43, an economist and professor of marketing at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, was shot multiple times at close range in a residential suburb of Athens and died at the scene, according to police.

A masked gunman “approached the victim on foot and opened fire from close range” at about 4:15 p.m., hitting the victim in the neck and chest, according to police spokesperson Konstantina Dimoglidou. Seven bullet casings from a 9mm caliber firearm were found at the scene, police said.

Eyewitnesses described seeing a masked man in black who approached the victim on foot, with one telling local media that she heard about six shots and saw the perpetrator run from the scene.

The shooting happened near the home of Jeziorski’s ex-wife in the suburb of Agia Paraskevi, one day after the father-of-two attended a custody court hearing, police said.

CNN has reached out to Jeziorski’s ex-wife for comment.

A senior police source, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly, previously told CNN that “all scenarios are being examined including close family members” and that the murder “bore signs of a contract killing.”

Police said Jeziorski had no criminal record in Greece.

Jeziorski’s family started a fundraiser to repatriate his remains to his native Poland and pay for legal representation in Greece.

“Our family is heartbroken, and we are doing everything we can to ensure that justice is served,” his brother Łukasz Jeziorski wrote on the online fundraising page.

UC Berkeley said in a statement that Jeziorski “had a passion for teaching” and during his 13 years there, he taught data analytics skills to more than 1,500 graduate and PhD students.

The dean of UC Berkeley’s business school, Jenny Chatman, said she was “heartbroken” by the death of Jeziorski, who she described as a “beloved member of our marketing faculty.”

CNN
 — 

A huge fire has consumed the main stage of Belgium’s world-famous Tomorrowland festival, days ahead of its planned opening on Friday.

“Due to a serious incident and fire on the Tomorrowland Mainstage, our beloved Mainstage has been severely damaged,” festival organizers said in a statement Wednesday evening.

“We can confirm that no one was injured during the incident.”

Video showed thick plumes of black smoke rising from the festival grounds in Boom, Belgium on Wednesday. Fireworks could also be seen and heard going off in the distance.

The festival’s main stage has almost completely burned down, according to Belgium public broadcaster VRT, which added that emergency services are on the scene but the fire is not yet under control.

No festival-goers were on site at the time of the fire, but about 1000 staff members were present, who have now been evacuated, VRT reported.

The electronic dance music festival was due to start on Friday.

Organizers said in their statement that the site’s “DreamVille” campsite will open on Thursday as planned and they are “focused on finding solutions for the festival weekend.”

Local police confirmed the fire in a post on X and encouraged people to stay away from the smoke and give way to emergency services.

It is unclear how the fire started, VRT reported.

CNN’s Majlie de Puy Kamp contributed to this report.