News

A woman in a hijab and face mask holding a young child at the 17th annual world symposium 2024, celebrating two decades of research and progress.

20 Years of Research and Progress — A Story of Collaboration

By WORLDSymposia on February 09, 2024
This is the story of a WORLDSymposium collaboration that began with a Canadian physician's call to a Duke colleague, seeking help for a family who had already lost children to Pompe disease. Duke colleagues, informed by UCSF's intrauterine therapy approach, initiated the collaboration at...
A smiling, Dr. Tippi MacKenzie, while holding a young child outdoors, with a male bystander looking on and a cityscape in the background. The logo 'cbs news bay area' is visible in the corner.

Fetal therapy offers hope for fetus diagnosed with Hunter Syndrome

By Molly McCrea and Juliette Goodrich on January 23, 2024
Some parents-to-be have to face the terrifying news that their unborn child has been diagnosed with a life-threatening genetic disorder. But thanks to a medical team at a Bay Area hospital, there is amazing new hope in a fetal therapy that may spare their unborn child serious outcomes.
Two children are running on a beach during sunset, with palm trees and other beachgoers in the background.

The Surgeon Set on Curing Genetic Diseases Before Birth

By Kirsten Weir on June 23, 2023
UCSF’s Tippi MacKenzie is leading groundbreaking clinical trials of therapies aimed at stopping fetuses from developing devastating disorders. Five-year-old Elianna loves running around with her big brother in their yard on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. She isn’t afraid to get dirty, is learning to...
A happy family consisting of a woman wearing a red hijab, a young child in the middle, and a bearded man on the right, all smiling and posing together in front of a computer camera in a room with wall decorations.

After Losing 2 Children to Rare Genetic Disease, Family Celebrates Healthy Daughter

By Garvin Thomas on November 17, 2022
By the time 2021 came around, Sobia Qureshi and Zahid Brashir were well aware of the odds. For better and worse, they had lived them. The Ottowa, Canada, couple had given birth to four children. Two of them, a son and a daughter, are healthy. Two others, both daughters, died before the age of two...
A young child with a pink hair tie and a white cardigan over a pink top is standing outside, looking down with a focused expression.

The Disease Took Zara, Then Sara. Could Ayla Be Saved?

By Gina Kolata on November 09, 2022
Two sisters in one family died from a genetic disorder. Before a third child with the disease was born, doctors hatched a plan to spare her of its effects. For the first time, doctors have successfully treated a fetus by infusing a crucial enzyme into its minuscule umbilical cord, halting an...
A young child with curly hair, wearing a pink top and dark pants, stands by a window ledge indoors and looks towards the camera.

Fetal Therapy Offers Hope for Patients

By Jess Berthold on November 09, 2022
When Zahid and Sobia Bashir discovered their fetus had the same genetic disease that took the lives of two of their young children, they didn’t hesitate to sign up for a promising but experimental new therapy. “I found out (the therapy) was a possibility and I was kind of in shock; I couldn’t...