NAME: Louise Brown

AGE: 25

NATIONALITY: British

CLAIM TO FAME: First test-tube baby

WHEN Louise Brown’s parents told her that she was one of a kind, they really meant it. After all, she was the first baby in history, who was successfully conceived in a laboratory test-tube.

When, on June 25, 1978, Louise was born via caesarean in Oldham, North England, it was considered nothing short of a miracle. She was to the global scientific community what Dolly the sheep was for the world.

However, more amazing has been her existence as the oldest IVF baby in the world, which by no means was easy work.

Louise’s laboratory fathers, Cambridge University professor Robert Edwards and gynaecologist Patrick Steptoe, worked for no less than 10 years before finally perfecting and achieving success with the IVF technique.

In each case of the in-vitro fertilization procedure, the woman is given fertility drugs to help her produce more eggs. The eggs are surgically removed and fertilized in a laboratory.

They are then placed in the womb, which has been prepared with hormone injections. This pioneering technique and others that followed suit have helped give birth to more than a million humans.

Late last month, Louise, along with Dr Robert and her fiance, and a thousand other test-tube babies, were present for a huge party that celebrated not only Louise’s birthday but also the opportunity that has given parents a hope of attaining parenthood.

Today, IVF and other techniques help about 75 per cent of the estimated one-in-six couples who have a fertility problem. But IVF still has limitations because only 20 per cent of human embryos — whether they’re created naturally or outside the body — implant in the uterus. In fact, one of the biggest challenges according to Dr Robert is learning more about why embryos do not implant in the womb. He would also like to see improvements in diagnosing genetic diseases and the development of stem cells, master cells in the body that can develop into any cell type, to treat diseases and to help infertile couples.

At the party, Louise, the Eve of the test-tube generation, was probed by the assembled ensemble of journalists that if the need be, would she consider a test-tube baby for herself. The 25-year-old’s emphatic yes is evidence that the technique’s results have created as normal a human as anyone of us non-test-tube creations are.