First baby born in Kazakhstan using egg cell nucleus replacement method

A baby has been born in Kazakhstan for the first time using egg cell nucleus replacement, known as the MAT method. The birth places the country among a small number of states that have applied this complex reproductive technology at a clinical level. The method is conventionally referred to as the "three-parent baby" approach.

The first Kazakhstani woman to give birth using the method is 43 years old. She had tried for four years to conceive and had undergone several IVF procedures without success. Specialists link the problem to weakening mitochondria, the cell's internal energy source, which can weaken with age and may halt embryo development at an early stage.

The procedure was carried out jointly by the official adviser-embryologist of the Persona clinic in Almaty, Professor Shukhrat Mitalipov from Portland, Oregon, USA, and Academician Vyacheslav Lokshin of the National Academy of Sciences. The mother and baby are doing well, and another woman in the same project is approaching her due date. Lokshin said the technology will remain an experimental direction for now, and the health of children born this way will be monitored for many years. About 99.9 percent of the baby's core genetic material belongs to its biological parents.