Label printer, used for identifying and tracking embryos, in mitochondrial donation treatment (MDT), c.2023

Label printer, made by LABxpert, used to print identifying information to track and identify eggs during freezing and during mitochondrial donation therapy (MDT), used by the team at the Newcastle Fertility Centre, c.2023. Labels would be attached to the 'straws' holding eggs and embryos.

Being able to identify and keep track of eggs and embryos in fertility treatment is a crucial part of the process. This label printer, made by LABxpert, was used to add identifying information to straw-like plastic containers used to store embryos in liquid nitrogen.

It was donated and used by a team at the Newcastle Fertility Centre who have developed techniques for a fertility treatment called mitochondrial donation treatment (MDT). This aims to prevent children inheriting rare but serious diseases caused by faulty mitochondria. This therapeutic treatment has led to the phrase 'three-parent babies'. In the UK, about one in 6,000 babies are affected by mitochondrial disorders.

Found in nearly every cell in the body, thousands of mitochondria are dotted around a cell’s nucleus. They produce energy for the cell to function. When a person has a mitochondrial disease, the mitochondria in the cells don’t produce enough energy. The parts of the body commonly affected are those that have the highest energy demands, such as brain, muscle, liver, heart and kidney.

Mitochondrial donation treatment (MDT) involves combining both parents nuclear genetic material and placing it within a donor egg with healthy mitochondria, to avoid the risk of passing on faulty mitochondria. The Newcastle clinic became the first and only national centre licensed to perform MDT, with the first cases approved in 2018. It was reported in 2023 that the first babies had been born using this technique.